The Better Weasley
by Raven55
Summary: George is showing an interest in Hermione that no one expected but Fred. But one of George's old flames butts in and George has to make sure he doesn't make the wrong choice. Will there be another Weasley to look out for Hermione's feelings?
1. Office Life

**Quick Summary:** The world is back to the way it should be, no Voldemort anymore, and everyone has gone his or her own way. Then Hermione is invited by her old friend Ron to celebrate christmas at the Burrow. She accepts this welcome opportunity to see everyone again and has to face a little more than she bargained for.  
Ginny is still in a never-ending period of mouring and George is showing an interest in her that no one expected but Fred. She has to learn to be honest with herself and see that she feels the same. But when everything seems to go perfectly fine, one of George's old flames butts in and George has to make sure he doesn't make the wrong choice.  
Will he hurt her? And what if he does? Will there be another Weasley to look out for Hermione's feelings? Of course there will be ;) But how and who is still a mystery

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**The Better Weasley**

**Chapter one: Office Life**

"Granger! We need you in here now! And bring the damned coffee."

Hermione let out a loud sigh.

"Yes sir." She said tiredly.

"Better get moving. You know what they're like." Said a girl with sleek brown hair that barely reached her shoulders.

Hermione nodded. "Yeah, I know. Can you owl this for me? If they keep asking me to do other things like making coffee, I'll never get round to doing it and then they'll have another excuse to yell at me."

The girl nodded.

"Thanks Tess. You known how much I need this job."

Hermione stuffed a file between her teeth and picked up the tray that was waiting next to the coffee machine before shuffling her way into the office next to her desk.

"Here you go, sir." She said when she had handed out the coffee and the file.

"Yes, thank you." Said a man with black hair. "Vivian, coffee?"

Hermione watched the woman next to him smile and nod. She noticed how the woman's foot gently stroked his leg under the table.

She snorted. Immediately the two of them looked up at her.

"Miss Granger, anything else?"

"No mister Andersson."

"Then why are you still here? I'm sure you haven't owled that piece of mail I handed you to copy this morning. Our client said he needed it today, so get on it."

"Yes sir."

"And don't forget about those Emmerdale files." The woman added, while stirring her coffee.

"No miss Kramer, I'll get right to it."

Hermione turned around and left the office. She slumped down behind her desk and let her head touch the surface.

"Don't ask." She said when Tess took a deep breath. "Those two really don't like me, do they."

"They're your bosses. Of course they don't like you, that's what superiors do." Tess said.

"But I can do so much more than just owling things and handing out coffee. I didn't apply for this internship to become a secretary or a waitress."

Tess gigled.

"Well, I've got something that will cheer you up." She said happily.

Hermione looked at her surprised.

"You've got mail." Tess tossed her a small letter.

Greedily Hermione opened it.

"It's from Ron!" she exclaimed

"What does it say?"

"He wants to know if I can have lunch with him today. It's been ages since I've seen him..."

"Well, then go!" Tess said.

"I will. Of course I will. What time is it now?"

"Ten to eleven."

Hermione grabbed a quill from the inkwell on her desk and scribbled a reply on the back of the letter.

"I'm using a company owl for this." She said defiantly. "It's not like they'll know."

Tess laughed. "Don't worrry. I'll cover for you. Oh, and can you give these to the secretary at the end of the hall? Mr. Hoot said he wanted to take a look at those scrolls before noon."

Hermione nodded and took the scrolls Tess handed her.

"How a nice man like that ever ended up stuck with these to ego-maniacs in the head-office, I'll never know." She muttered.

---

"Ron! It's so good to see you!" Hermione jumped up from the table and hugged her friend tightly.

"Hello Hermione. How have you been?" he said, smiling fondly.

"Well, alright, I suppose."

Ron raised his eyebrow. "Just alright? Not better than 'alright'?"

"Well, it's still hard for me, you know. I still find it hard when I think about it. And...well, I'm sorry I didn't stay in contact more with you after all that has happened."

"Yeah, me too. I feel we've grown apart more than I would have wanted to."

"It's because of Harry. It's fear...I think."

Ron looked at her. "Fear?"

"Fear to lose more than we already have."

"Oh, I see."

"I wished that we could have dealt with it together. But you had to take care of Ginny, I know. And I couldn't face her after what I said to her. I had to go."

"It's been so long and still she won't try and be happy." He said darkly. "And having Fleur and Bill showing off their kids isn't helping either...I'm afraid she'll sink even further into a depression than she already has."

Hermione placed her hand on his. "You understand though, don't you? They loved each other so much."

"We all cared about him, one way or another." Ron said quietly.

"But she loved him more than that. And now that he's gone she's alone." Hermione said even more quietly. "I'm sorry...I shouldn't have brought it up. This was supposed to be something merry, not an afternoon of funeral talk."

"But it's good to talk about it. Not shutting it out like Ginny is doing. But you're right. Now is not the time. I'd rather talk about you and your work. How _is_ life at Andersson, Hoot & Kramer?"

Hermione let out a loud sigh. "It's _horrible_. Hoot is a nice old bloke, but he's hardly ever there. And the other two are treating me like an errand-girl. I took that internship to learn more about working at a lawfirm, to become a good lawyer. Not to learn how to make coffee."

Ron grinned. "You do really look tired. Are they really working you that hard?"

"Yeah...my third year at Hogwarts was nothing compared to this, time traveling and all. But what about you, I can't see you still doing that boring deskjob at Gringotts."

He shook his head. "I'm in Quidditch now actually."

"Really?" she said surprised. "What team?"

"Well..." he looked down an his ears reddened ever so slightly. "...the Tutshill Thunderclouds."

She looked confused. "Thunderclouds? I thought they were called the Tornado's."

Ron shook his head. "No...I'm with the Thunderclouds...it's their...It's the Tornado's..er...youth team."

Hermione looked at him curiously. "You're on the youth team? Aren't you a bit too old for that?"

Ron's ears now turned a deep shade of crimson. "I'm not really _on_ the team...I'm...I'm the kiddie coach."

He avoided her eyes desperately. But instead of hearing her burst into a fit of laughter, she just stared at him with pleased surprise all over her face.

"Ron...children's coach...that's wonderful!"

"You don't think it's a stupid job?"

"No, I don't." She said encouragingly. "It sounds great! You're doing something you love and passing it on to others at the same time. That sounds like the perfect job to me. That's all anyone would ever want, right?"

"Fleur doesn't think so...And I'm sure Percy would disagree with you too. Not that we're talking to him again..."

"Well, just ignore them. It sounds like the perfect job for you."

He smiled. "You know, I miss this. These talks we used to have. I hope we'll stay in touch more than we did after..."

"Me too. It really feels good to be here with you. I missed it too."

"Won't it be weird without Harry there?" he asked.

"Is it weird now?" she asked back.

He wondered about it. "Well...a bit. Perhaps. But it feels good too."

They smiled.

"Hey, I have a great idea!" Ron said suddenly. "Why don't you come over next weeked?"

"Next weekend? But that's during the Christmas holiday..."

"I know. It would be good to have you over at the Burrow again. Unless you have anything else planned, that is."

"Hmm, let me think." She said sarcastically. "Skip the Andersson, Hoot & Kramer Christmas party for a delicious, mouthwatering christmas dinner with you and your family...Ron, I'd love to."

He beamed. "See, I knew you would. And perhaps it will be good for Ginny too."

"Do you think she has forgiven me?" she asked as she stood up.

"I think so." Ron said reassuringly. "And I'm positive that talking to you will help her."

He stood up too.

"I hope so, Ron. I really do."

"Then I'll see you next Friday. Shall I pick you up from work? We could go together."

"Sure, that's fine. I finish at five thirty."

Ron hugged her.

"Then it's a date." He joked.

She laughed and pecked his cheek. "I have to go now. See you Friday!"

"Bye!"

Ron watched her skip out the door, wrapping a woolen shawl around her neck. It would be good to have her over at the Burrow again. A bit like how it used to be.

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**AN: It might be a bit slow now, but the emotions will get twisting and turning soon :D Please R&R and let me know what you think!**


	2. It's a Girl!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter two: It's a Girl!**

"Mum, how much longer should this be in the oven?" Fred peered through the darkened little oven window.

"For about another ten minutes."

"Are you sure? It's sort of turning black." George added.

Mrs. Weasley snapped up and rushed towards the oven, shoving her two sons to the side. A thick column of dark smoke rose from within, slowly filling the entire kitchen.

Ron, who was passing by the kitchen door, doubled back and stared inside.

"What's going on?" he asked nervously. "Is something on fire?"

George grinned. But he moved away quickly again as mrs. Weasley pushed him aside, carrying a blackened leg of lamb towards the sink.

"I just wish Ginny could get herself over all this and help me in the kitchen. You boys only make things worse when you offer to help." She said waspishly.

"Then why don't you ask someone else?" Fred answered back sweetly. "I'm sure Fleur would _love_-"

"Fleur is busy enough looking after her own children." Mrs. Weasley snapped. "And she would want to do everything _her_ way...As if my cooking isn't good enought the way it is..."

"_We_ love your cooking, mum." Fred said, suddenly sounding very soothing.

Ron stepped into the kitchen and leaned against the doorpost, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Talking about food...Do you think you could squeeze in one more person for tomorrow?" he asked slowly.

Mrs. Weasley looked up in surprise. "...A guest? A-are you bringing someone?"

Fred and George wheeled around and faced him with nosy grins.

"You're bringing someone?" one of them asked. "Is it a girl?"

"Anyone we know? You sly dog, you."

Ron rolled his eyes. "It's just Her-"

But he was cut off by his mother.

"Oh Ronnie, of course we have room for a guest!" she said with a smile. "I just hope she doesn't mind a bit of a mess."

Looking around, Ron understood what she meant by that. Ever since Bill and Fleur had started to bring over their children, nothing had been safe anymore. Every single room was a mess. But Hermione would understand, so that wasn't a problem at all. Besides, she had been to the Burrow so many times before that she probably wouldn't even notice.

"Mum, she won't mind. She's been-"

"So it _is_ a girl" the twins shouted triumphantly.

Ron sighed loudly. "Will you two get a grip...I asked Hermione to come. You know? Hermione? A friend of mine? Remember?"

But instead of wiping the smirks of their faces, it only seemed to increase them.

"Hermione, eh." George said. ""Well, I suppose we all saw that coming."

"Mind you, I expected it sooner." Fred added. "You two kept us all waiting quite a while."

'Fine.' Ront thought. If they wanted to think that there was something other than friendship between him and Hermione, then fine. He'd leave them their little daydream.

He turned around with a subtle smile and said nothing as he left the kitchen, knowing they would accept that as a conformation of their suspicions. He only hoped Hermione wouldn't mind he had allowed them to set themselves up for this joke.

- - - - - - - - -

"Tess? Have you seen those notes I left here?" Hermione searched the desk frantically.

Her friend shook her head. "No, I think Hoot's secretary took them. I saw her pass by earlier."

"Shit..."

This was just great. The last day before the christmas holiday started and she had managed to lose Kramer's papers on an infringement case involving the nephew of one of the ministers. Could it get any worse?

"Granger! Where are those files on the Puddifoot case? And I need those notes back I gave you to copy this morning. Did you finish that?"

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath before turning around.

"Well...I've, er, I think mister Hoot has them now, miss Kramer." She said, quickly burrying herself in the file cabinet to dig up the other file before she would find herself the subject of Kramer's rant.

"That miserably old goat..." she heard the woman whisper. "Never lets me do my job...always interfering."

"Here you go, miss Kramer." Hermione said loudly, pushing the Puddifoot files into her hands forcefully.

She couldn't stand it when her two other bosses nagged about mr. Hoot. Mr. Hoot was a friendly old man, a man who made you feel at ease when you talked to him. He reminded her of an old grandfather.

He was the one who had founded this firm together with help from mr. Andersson. Miss Kramer, however, had somehow managed to work her way up in this lawfirm, growing from a secretary into a partner.

'Probably using Andersson as a leg-up.' She thought to herself.

"Hermione, it'almost five thirty. You should get ready." Tess said suddenly.

Hermione looked at the clock. "Oh, you're right."

She turned away from miss Kramer and tried to catch a glance of herself in the window, trying to get her hair to sit a bit more decent. Kramer looked from Hermione to Tess and back again.

"Are you going somewhere? Aren't you staying for our party?"

"She's been invited to a friend's for christmas." Tess said quickly with a cheeky grin. "To Ron Weasley's, am I right?"

Hermione turned around again. "Oh, don't _you_ start as well. We had quite enough of that at school, thank you."

"...Weasley, you said?" Vivian Kramer said surprised.

Hermione stopped in the middle iof the proces of wrapping her scarf around her neck and looked up. "...Yeah. Do you know him?"

"Oh...vaguely...Well, I suppose I could let you go a few minutes early. It's christmas after all."

Vivian Kramer suddenly looked a lot friendlier.

"Oh, no need." Hermione said slowly. "Ron's picking me up here."

She buttoned up her jacket and gathered the rest of her things into her bag.

"Is it alright if I take the Emmerdale files with me? I think I can copy this out for you during the holidays, no problem."

Vivian nodded slowly and walked towards the doors.

"That's fine...you know...I remember you saying you needed a courtcase to write a report about for class, right? Copy those files twice and keep one pair for your research. It's a good subject."

Hermione raised her eyebrow at this kindness. "Thank you..."

"Oh, no problem at all." Vivian said loftily, "Now, if you could just bring in another round of coffee before you go..."

Hermione nodded and waited till Vivian had left the room before sighing heavily. "See what I mean? I bring coffee and I owl mail. That's pretty much all I do around here."

"And what was all that sudden niceness about?" Tess asked.

Hermione shrugged. "I don't know, but it scared me. I think I even prefer it when they order me around. Though I'd love to assist them, or something like that. I'm not here to become a barmaid."

"That sounds like the Hermione I know." Said a cheerful voice from the opening of the office doors.

She broke into a smile and threw her arms around his neck.

"Ron! You're early! You're not...ill, are you?" she asked him in mock-suspicion.

He laughed loudly and then she released him from the hug. "Ron, this is Tess. We work together. Tess, this is Ron. I'll be right back after I delivered their coffee."

"You might want to hurry up, too." Tess said quietly. "That cow is looking at us through the blinds."

Hermione and Ron turned around and immediately the blinds snapped shut. Ron looked at Hermione questioningly, but Hermione shrugged her shoulders.

"She's never _this_ weird...I'd better get her her coffee."

She excused herself and grabbed the tray. When Hermione was out of earshot Tess clucked her tongue.

"So _you're_ the infamous Ronald Weasley. I've heard quite a lot about you from Hermione. It's nice to finally see a face to go with the name."

She extended her hand and Ron shook it.

"Nice to meet you too. I'm glad Hermione has at least one friendly collegue to work with. She wasn't too happy with her bosses, but now I see why."

Tess laughed. "Yeah, superiors can be a real pain, but I'm sure you've got to put up with the same thing. Or don't you work at an office?"

"Nope, I train the Tornado's youth team...Quidditch is pretty much the only thing I'm good at." He said appologetically.

"Hey, that sounds really cool." Tess said excitedly. "Sportsplayers are always cool, but training the youthteam makes them extra cute."

Ron's ears turned crimson as Tess gave him a wink. Sensing he was starting to feel uncomfortable, she changed the subject.

"Say Ron...does the name Vivian Kramer ring a bell?"

"...Can't say it does..." Ron said, sounding relieved that they were talking about something else now. "Vivian Kramer...Hmm, well vaguely, perhaps. But I can't say for sure."

"Hmm...she knew your name vaguely too. She was so surprised when she heard it."

"Perhaps she went to school with me. Or more likely with one of my brothers."

The door behind them opened and closed as hermione came back with an empty tray. She threw it aside and picked up her bag.

"Well, let's go!" she said brightly.

"You sure you've got everything?" Ron asked, offering her his arm. "Ready to go?"

She giggled and took it. "You bet. It's so wonderful to know I'm going to the Burrow again. I've missed everyone."

They waved goodbye to Tess, who gave Ron another wink just as he was turning away again, causing his ears to go crimson all over again. Then they left the office and made their way down Diagon Alley.

Once they had reached the Leaky Cauldron, Ron halted.

"Before we apparate..." he said hesitantly. "They might act a bit...funny back home."

Hermione looked at him curiously. "Is Ginny still that mad at me then?"

"No! No, it's not that at all...it's just that, you see, they think that you and I...because I invited you, you know?"

Hermione let out a soft chuckle. "Do they really? Haven't they learned over the years?"

"And because they wouldn't listen to me I just let them think what they wanted to think. I hope you don't mind."

"Mind? Not at all. I think It's a good joke. But how will we end it?"

"We'll think about that later." Ron said, laughing. "We're already a bit late and you know my mum..."

She nodded. "Right, let's go then. Let's give your brothers something to talk about."

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	3. Back at the Burrow

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter three: Back at the Burrow**

"So we're really sure about this."

"Yup. They can't expect to get away with this."

"Don't you think they'll mind?"

"Fred, of course they'll mind. Isn't that the whole point? They want us to believe they're really together? Like anyone's going to believe that after all this time. Well, no one but mum and the rest of our family. They're trying to pull a prank on us. It's up to us to make sure we disappoint them. We need to strike back with subtlety, as if we believe it's true. They made us wait this long."

Fred bit his lip. "But it's christmas. We shouldn't upset them too much. At least go a little easy on them for mum's sake."

George laughed. "Mum'll be fine with it. She'll be too busy gloating over the fact that her youngest son brought home a girlfriend. Especially _this_ girlfriend. She won't notice a little teasing."

Fred grinned. "Alright then, let's do it."

The two boys walked out of their bedroom, feeling more than satisfied they had come to an agreement about this 'joke'. But when they passed their sister's room, George's smile faltered. He halted.

"...Is she still...?"

Fred nodded gloomily. "She won't come out. Not even on days like this."

"Perhaps she'll come down for dinner today..."

Fred shook his head defeatedly. "George, you've seen just as much of her as I have. You _know_ she won't come down."

"But she's been up there ever since it happened! It's almost as if she's punishing herself for surviving. It's been so long...can't she manage to get over it? We all know how horrible it was, but she can't spend the rest of her life locked up in her room because of what happened."

George let out a loud sigh.

"You know..." Fred said hesitantly. "Perhaps she heard Hermione's coming over...perhaps that's why she's locked the door this time too. Those two didn't part on a good footing, did they."

"I just want my sister to get her life back, whatever reason this has."

Fred watched his brother turn away from the door. Seeing George this helpless reminded him of how helpless and desperate he felt himself. A sudden loud crash made both of them look up. An almost evil grin took the place of their serious frowns.

"That'll be the happy 'couple'." George said.

Fred snorted. "They argued so much when they were still at school...I wonder how bad it is now. I'm not sure that happy is the right word."

George laughed and hasted down the stairs, followed closely by Fred. When they had reached the ground floor they were already too late to be the first ones to greet Ron and Hermione. Hermione was being hugged fondly by their mother while Ron was trying to upturn the suitcase in the fireplace.

"Hermione!" the twins said simultaneously, striding forward to pull her into an excruciatingly tight hug, pressing all the air from her lungs.

"Fred, George...so good to see you." she said, gasping for air when they had released her.

"Quite a nice surprise to see you here." George said with a wink.

Hermione giggled and noticed him eyeing Ron with a smirk. She could see what Ron had meant by saying the family would probably act a bit funny. Suddenly she felt the urge to play along, just as Ron had done.

"Oh, yes." She said quickly. "I missed you all _so_ much. So when Ron asked me to come over, how could I resist?"

"Don't you mean you missed darling _Ron_ so much?" Fred asked with a grin.

Hermione chuckled her tongue and tossed her hair over her shoulder the way she had seen Vivian Kramer do.

"If that's what you want to make of it..." she said with a smirk.

Then she turned around and walked away into the kitchen. Ron had to bite his lip to make sure he wouldn't laugh. Hermione was playing along with the joke already and, to be honest, he hadn't expected her to do _this_ well.

He followed her into the kitchen, leaving his brothers behind without giving them time to think of a retort. Fred and George stared at each other.

"Is it me...or was that an attempted flirt just now?" Fred asked incredulously.

"Nah, man...she wasn't flirting, she was toying with us!" George said, sounding equally astounded.

"Well...she certainly changed then, didn't she..."

"I can tell you this, though." George added. "If it had been a flirt, it was a damn good one."

Fred suddenly slapped the back of his brother's head. "You git! As long as they don't tell us whether this relationship of theirs is a joke or not, we believe what they say! She's here with Ron, remember. Hands off."

"No, don't get me wrong. I was saying 'if'. She's a good actress, that's all."

"Yeah," Fred chuckled. "she managed to get your hormones up and running again. Admit it George, we've just let her win the first fight."

George grinned evilly. "Even more reason to get back at her. From now on, no mercy. We're going to be as annoying as we can muster till we're satisfied with our revenge."

His grin widened even more. Hermione had changed indeed. And not just her sense of humour, he thought. And it wasn't a change for the worse.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Owl post! George, get it will you..." mrs. Weasley said as she hovered above a pan of scrambled eggs.

George reached out his hand and grabbed Errol in mid-flight before he could crash into the sink.

"There's something for Hermione...Oh, Fred! Something for us, too!"

Fred looked up from his porridge. "For the shop?"

"I think so...It's got an official stamp and lable on it and everything...Might be important."

"Let's go upstairs, then. Jokeshop business is strictly top-secret." Fred laughed and reached out to grab the letter from George.

A soft creaking from the doorway made him stop. He looked up to see the small, thin figure of his sister, clad in her nighty and bathrobe.

"Ginny..."

Her mother rushed forward and pushed her down into a chair.

"Are you hungry?" she asked.

Ginny said nothing. George quietly placed a plate in front of her and took the pan of scrambled eggs from his mother to ladle some onto it.

"...I heard Hermione's here...I heard Fred and George talk about her yesterday." She said quietly. "And she came to my door last night. I didn't know she would be here...Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"We- we thought you wouldn't want to know." Mrs. Weasley said confusedly.

"She wanted to talk to me, but I ignored her. I ignored her again, just like I did after- Do you think she's mad at me? I remember every word she said that day...she was angry then."

Mrs. Weasley shook her head. "Why would Hermione be mad at you, dear. She understands."

"Exactly! She understands! She knows how I feel and I ignored her all over again! I wanted to talk to her...I needed to...She _knows_...she understands. But I couldn't, last night...I don't know whether she'll want to now..."

Her shoulders began to shake.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'll just go back upstairs."

"Wait!" Fred said suddenly. "You want to talk to her? Give her this! It came for her today and then you can talk to her. She feels the same pain you do, you know. She misses Harry too."

Ginny looked at the letter he was holding out hesitantly. But when Fred smiled at her encouragingly, she stood up and left the kitchen without it. When they were sure she was out of earshot, they looked at each other confusedly.

"Ginny came down? Not just for food but to talk?" George wondered. "Why?"

"Perhaps she feels she needs to make up with Hermione...That arguement way back then was pretty intense."

"I think it's good Ron brought Hermione." Mrs. Weasley said. "And I don't mean just for Ginny. For himself too. I never thought I'd see either of them happy again after-"

She quickly hid her face in her apron to stifle a sob.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"So they really do think that you and me are, well, you know." She giggled. "I just can't see whatever gave them this idea, though I enjoy seeing them be this silly."

Ron shrugged as she strechted out on his bed. "I don't know. I suppose that it was obvious to them, somehow. In their eyes it was an accident waiting to happen."

"_Just_ in their eyes, Ronald?" she asked bemused.

Ron chuckled.

"Alright, alright. In everyone's eyes." He admitted.

"Youknow that's not what I meant."

He grinned. "Yeah, I know. Well, if you're still dwelling on that, then it must have been something worth while to remember."

They laughed.

"Oh, that was _ages_ ago. I still can't believe we actually ended up kissing each other." Hermione said, letting out a girlish giggle.

Ron pretended to be offended. "What? You think it was all a mistake? Something that should never have occurred? An accident?"

"No, that's what _you_ said, remember?" Hermione hit him on his arm playfully. "You know what I meant, Ronald Weasley. Now stop being such a prat."

"Oh yes, I know what you meant. You can't believe it actually happened. You still can't believe you actually allowed me to place my arms around you like this..." he said, wrapping his arms around her waist with a scheeky grin. "and you can't believe it was you who brought your face closer to mine, like this..."

Hermione snorted with laughter as Ron started to make horrible smooching noises in the air.

"See!" he said triumphantly. "I know exactly what you mean."

Hermione leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment, trying to get her face straight. At exactly the same moment, the door to Ron's room opened. They looked up, still in each others arms, to see a slightly embarassed George staring at them.

He seemed to have forgotten the letter he was holding as his embarassement changed into a sneaky grin. He said nothing, turned around and dropped the letter before pulling the door closed behind him on his way out.

For a moment both Ron and Hermione looked at the door, at loss for words. Then they both burst out into a fit of laughter.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Ron managed to say between loud ha's.

Hermione had tears running down her face. "Oh, we've done it now! They're never going to believe we're just friends now!"

"Then why not make use of that?" Ron said, suddenly sobering up.

Hermione stared at him. "What do you mean? How?"

"Listen, they think that you are my girlfriend. That gives them reason enough to tease us until it drives us mad."

"So what do we do?"

"We're going to beat them at their own game."

She placed her hands on her hips. "And how, pray tell, are we going to beat the two best pranksters I know with a prank?"

"Ah..." Ron's voice faltered. "Yeah you've got a point there."

He sat back down on his bed again and leaned back on his elbows.

"How about confusing them? You invite another girl over, say, Tess...If she'd be willing to play this game. If we make this look as if I'm dating both of you, they'll lose it."

Hermione snorted again and raised her eyebrow. "And where would be the fun in it for me?"

"Heh, it was worth a shot." Ron said.

He let out a loud yawn and fell down on his back.

"Let's just wait, then. Let's see where this takes us. If we see an opening, we'll take it and try to do as much damage as we possibly can."

Hermione nodded. "I can live with that..."

She looked at the door unwillingly. What had that look been on George's face? He had certainly looked surprised and even satisfied for some reason. But had there also been something else? She shook her head.

"Listen, Ron. I'm heading down for breakfast."

He nodded. "I'll be right down. Tell mum to save me some sausages. Just going to brush my teeth first."

"See you in a few minutes."

She walked towards the door she had eyes suspiciously just a moment before. She noticed the letter on the floor and picked it up.

"What's that?" Ron asked, rummaging around in his closet.

"Oh...it's...from my boss."

It had the Andersson, Hoot & Kramer logo on the seal.

"Probably a copy of those papers I requested. Somehow Vivian Kramer suddenly felt obliged to actually be nice for a change." She said bitterly. "And all of that just because I'm spending my holiday with you."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Really?"

"Yes! There they were, at the point of kissing when I burst in. This isn't the joke we thought it was, Fred. We thought all of this was a joke of theirs. That they were pretending to be together so they could pull our leg. But it's not a joke! It really finally happened, Ron and Hermione really are-"

"George, calm down. You almost sound disgruntled that they are. We all saw this coming."

George shook his head. " I'm not disgruntled..."

Fred shrugged his shoulders and turned away. Somehow George's reaction felt unnatural to him. He took a deep breath.

"Well then, we should leave them alone." He said forcedly. "It was alright to try and stop them if it was a joke...but if they really are serious..."

"Fred..."

"No, don't get me wrong. I like to tease them just as much as you do. But it's been a long time since I've seen Ron happy, since he's had someone. Don't you agree that teasing them could, you know...ruin this somehow?"

"What, like putting too much pressure on them?" George asked

"Exactly." Fred said.

George looked pensive.

'Perhaps...that wouldn't even be that bad.' He thought slowly, careful not to utter those words out loud as he recalled the image of her, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - - -


	4. Matters of the Heart

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter four: Matters of the Heart**

Hermione broke the seal on the envelope and opened it. Inside it were the Emmerdale files she had requested. On top of that rested a small red card. Surprised, she picked it up and opened it. It was a christmas card from Vivian Kramer, adressed to her.

She was even more surprised to see that she had written a personal and _friendly_ message for her inside it. Bemused she set the card on the mantlepiece and returned to the files. All she had to do now was make two copies and highlight the important parts.

She had barely started when the twins came hurtling down the stairs and started to talk in the hallway. They were having an arguement of some sort.

"Why is he doing this? He knows all our stock are ideas of our own. He _knows_ we don't need to steal his!"

She looked up. Stealing? What was all that about? She tried not to listen in, knowing she wouldn't appreciate other people listening in on her conversations, but she found her concentration slipping towards the boys' conversation.

"He's bitter. That must be it. He's bitter because we're outselling him. People are getting bored with his stuff and now they come to us."

"But to accuse us of theft, George. We both know Zonko's a nice old bloke, he normally wouldn't do this if it wasn't neccesary."

"He wouldn't? Look at what he did now, Fred! Now that this has happened, I consider him able to do _anything_."

The door flew open with a bang. Hermione ducked back into her file and pretended to be busy.

"...I just can't believe it." Fred sighed.

Hermione lowered her head even more, hoping they'd be so busy arguing that they wouldn't notice her.

"So what should we do about this." George said as he sat down at the table. "Let him say those things and do nothing? Oh, hey Hermione."

Fred sat down as well and poured himself a cup of tea from the teapot in the middle of the table.

"What...were you two talking about?" she tried carefully.

Fred sighed. "It's Zonko's. They're taking us to court."

"What!' she shouted. "Why!"

"Because he claims we stole one of his ideas." George said. "But he's lying. We only sell our own ideas, but he has apparently decided that he wanted to claim that the Pygmy Puff was _his_ idea, not ours."

"That's horrible." She said, clearly shocked. "You should do something about it."

"That's what I said but Fred believes it'll blow over."

She put down her quill. "Now you two listen to me. If you allow this to grow out of proportions then the reputation of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes could seriously be damaged. It wouldn't be the first time a shop had to close down because of slander."

George snorted. "Since when are you an expert on legal issues?"

She huffed and picked up her quill again. "You don't have to sound so sarcastic about this. I only wanted to offer you my help, but if you don't want it, then fine."

She bent her head over her parchment again.

"Hermione, I didn't mean to sound sarcastic..."

"He just wondered, as do I, why or where you gained that knowledge." Fred said soothingly.

"Well," she said, a smile returning to her face, "I guess Ron didn't tell you...but I decided to go to lawschool after Hogwarts. I'm an intern at 'Andersson, Hoot & Kramer'."

"Lawschool?" Fred wondered. "What happened to becoming a Healer?"

"...I didn't know you knew about that." She said surprised. "Well, basically I found out that I can't take the sight of blood very well...and then McGonagall told me about a wizarding lawschool, which sounded perfect for me."

"And our little bookworm couldn't say no to something that involved lots of big books to read." Fred said with a smile. "Isn't it dangerous, though? What with all those old Death Eaters out and about, needing someone to defend them in front of the Wizengamnot?"

"Not really...Can't say I've notice any difference lately."

"So you work at a lawfrim..." George interrupted slowly. "Can you help us out?"

Hermione hesitated with a quick glance at the Emmerdal files she had been wanting to work on. "Well...I suppose I could take a look at the accusation. I might be able to say something if you'll let me read the letter you got."

George stood up, offering her his hand with a charming smile.

"Well then, miss Granger." He said.

She linked her arm to his and felt a slight blush creep to her cheeks when their hands met.

"Just show me the papers." She said, suddenly feeling very audacious.

George guided her out the kitchen, winking at Fred over her head. Fred rolled his eyes and shook his head as he took another sip of his tea.

- - - - - - - - - - -

She sighed. When she finally put the papers down, George stared at her eagerly. She looked up.

"Well, George...as much as I'd like to help you myself, I'm afraid this is just a bit too difficult for me. I'm not a lawyer yet, you know."

He looked up disappointed. "So you can't help us?"

"Well, like I said, it's complicated. But I did manage to draw up a few basic arguements you could use in defence, but I'm pretty sure they won't hold up long in court. If you really want to be sure you should come by the office and ask one of the lawyers for advice." She bit her lip. "...As a matter of fact, there's this really nice old man at the office...His name is Alexander Hoot, he's the one who founded the company. I'm sure that, if I ask him, he'd take a look at it for a friendly price."

His face lit up. "That would be wonderful!"

He jumped up and hugged her tightly, giving her a soft kiss on her temple. She blushed and kept her eyes on the floor. Why did she feel...so weird just now? And...was he _sniffing her hair?_

George seemed to notice what he was doing too and quickly let go of her. He ran a hand through his hair.

"...So...er, I'd best go and tell Fred..."

"...Y- yeah." She said quickly. "But remember that I can't promise anything!"

He nodded and then left the room rather quickly. Hermione stayed behind, sinking back down on the bed she had been sitting on, what was going on with her? She knew this feeling only too well and she couldn't imagine worse timing or even a worse person to fall for.

No, this was not going to happen. Besides, what could George see in her? Thank Merlin she wouldn't have to worry about that.

"...Hermione?"

She looked up to see a pair of curious eyes looking at her. She scrambled up to her feet and quickly walked towards the door.

"...I- I didn't know you were up..."

"I was looking for you..."

"Oh...so...how are you now, how do you feel? Your family was really worried. All of them. I talked to Ron and perhaps he's troubled most of all."

"I know..." the girl let her glance slide down to her own feet as locks of long red hair fell in front of her eyes. "I don't want them to be worried. They need to think about themselves. I'm fine."

Hermione sighed. "Ginny, you're doing the same thing you did seven months ago! You shut us all out and locked yourself up in a room so you don't have to face what's out there. But all that's out here is us, trying to take care of you the best we can! Stop pushing us away, Ginny. Before it's too late."

Ginny bit her lip and Hermione could see she was fighting back tears.

"Oh...Ginny, I'm sorry. I didn't-"

"It's just that I knew that he was the one...I always knew he'd have to fight, but I always thought he'd-" she hesitated.

Suddenly Hermione reached out of her hand and squeezed it encouragingly. "You can talk to me, Ginny. That's what I want you to know. I wanted to be there for you back then, just like your family, and we all still are here now. But you have to trust us with your feelings."

"...I always thought he'd end up alright. That he'd pull through. That's what heroes do, right? They fight and live. But Harry didn't...he-"

She stopped and wrapped her arms around herself, hugging herself tighly. Hermione gently pushed her in the direction of her own room.

"I know, Ginny. I know how hard it is. We all still miss him, each of us in their own way, no one can ever take his place and no one is ever going to try. But you can't go on like this. Living in memories never did anyone any good. You linger and waste away. And, Ginny, there is still so much for you to do in this world. Don't miss out on all of that because he can't be there with you."

Ginny looked up at her. "You talk about it so easily. As if you don't hurt anymore. I want to do everything you just said, I want to move on...But it's just too hard for me and I can't shake that off. My heart won't let me."

Ginny turned around and ran inside her room, closing the door behind her. Hermione could hear her sob through the door.

"I understand, Ginny. No one wants you to forget. But you need to get your life back again. For your own good..." she said, hoping Ginny could hear her and would listen to her words. "Maybe you didn't want to let go of the pain because you're afraid that, if you do, you'll slowly start to forget him and what he meant to you."

Ginny didn't answer.

Hermione sighed. "He'll never change in your heart or in your memories. But you have to let go just a little."

When still no answer came, she decided to leave her alone. Perhaps a little rest would let her see that letting go of the pain wouldn't harm his memory. With another sigh she started downstairs.

'What a day.' She thought.

And with slight aprehension she wondered whether there were going to be any more like this one soon.

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	5. Time is the Best Healer

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter five: Time is the Best Healer**

"What? Why!"

"I don't know, okay?"

"Well, knock it off then. Don't do it again. She's Ron's and not just up for grabs. Smelling her hair, realy...And since when have you been interested in Hermione?" Fred said.

He turned away so George wouldn't be able to see his face.

"I don't know...She _changed_, Fred. You can't tell me you haven't noticed. She's snappy, whitty and she can stand her ground..."

"And she's not ugly either." Fred added tiredly. "Look, I know what makes her so interesting, I've seen it too. But don't you think this so called affection of yours is just some overenthousiastic reaction to seeing her again so suddenly? And even if it's not, you don't touch her as long as she's with Ron."

George cocked his head to the side with a cheeky grin. "And what if they suddenly broke up? Something like a little fight that would drive them a bit away from each other...She'd need a shoulder to cry on."

"_George!_" Fred shouted angrily. "You're not actually planning something like that, are you? You'd _do_ something like that?"

"No, no...Of course not." He answered soothingly. "But it's not something you can rule out. I mean, look at them. They used to have so many fights. Ron drove her to tears more than once..."

Fred sighed. "...I'm afraid that this is getting out of hand, George. You're wondering 'what if'? We're schoolboy pranksters. Since when did that inlcude ruining people's lives."

George sat down and looked at his hands resting on the table. "So what do you want me to do. You agreed that we had to get back at her for flirting with us the way she did. You know, when she had just arrived. We were determined to make her and Ron tell us the truth, you just as much as I was. And now you want me to call it off, to retreat?"

"George, this isn't a joke anymore. You saw them about to kiss, isn't that enough proof of the truth? And remember that she offered to help us out with the Zonko problem. She's a nice person, so why don't we just back off."

Fred picked up the teapot that had been warming on the stove and poured himself and George some tea.

"No teasing at all? No big-brother-annoying-little-brother-with-girlfriend at _all_?"George said.

Fred couldn't completely read the emotion that he had on his face, but he decided he could allow for some leeway. "Well, alright. But only if we keep it at that. We need to give them some room."

"Give who some room?" sounded a soft voice from the door.

Fred nearly dropped his mug when he heard his sister's voice. "Ginny!"

He stood up and rushed forward to give her a hug.

"W- would you like some tea?" George said quickly.

She nodded and watched how her brothers stumbled to get her her drink as fast as possible. They looked as if they were afraid she'd vanish back up to her room again if they took too long. She sat down at the table and pulled the Daily Prophet towards her, bending down over the headlines.

Silently Fred handed her her tea and couldn't help being surprised to see her fully dressed. She wasn't wearing her nighty with some robes over it, but a pair of jeans and a colourful woolen vest. Ginny looked up at the boys and smiled.

"Thanks." She said as she savoured the taste of her first sip. "I needed that. Nothing like mum's tea, is there."

George looked at Fred, who was just as speechless as he was. They sat down at the table again and watched her read and drink. Silently George passed her some toast, prefering to watch her eat than to touch his own breakfast.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Wake up, Ron. Quick!"

Ron yawned and brushed the sleep from his eyes. "Wha-?"

"Get up! I _know_ you're going to want to see this." Hermione said. "Come _on_. Get dressed!"

Ron rolled out of his bed and reached for his trousers. Hermione turned around quickly so he could change.

"Are you done?" she asked after a while.

Suddenly she felt two hands being clasped in front of her eyes.

"Perhaps. But you'll never know now!" he said teasingly.

Hermione laughed and pushed his hands away. "Come on, you've got to get to the kitchen. I think you're going to like this."

Ron bent down to tie his shoelaces and raised an eyebrow at her words. "What's down there, then?"

"You'll see." She said with a smile.

She allowed him to go down the stairs first and followed him closely. Once they had reached the kitchen door, Ron looked at her over his shoulder.

"You're not in on a prank with Fred and George, are you?" he asked wearily. "It wouldn't be the first time..."

But Hermione shook her head and motioned him inside. She knew that he'd have to pick up his bottom jaw from the floor the moment he'd enter that kitchen. She held her breath as he pushed through the door and awaited his gasp.

She wasn't disappointed.

"Ginny!" she heard him shout.

He rushed forward and hugged his startled sister who was still sitting at the table.

"R- Ron, you're choking me!" she gasped.

Hermione giggled and looked at the others in the room. Ron had been the last one to get up. Mrs. Weasley was cooking up a more sturdy breakfast for her daughter than a piece of toast.

Mr. Weasley was pretending to read his newspaper, but he hadn't turned the page in the last twenty minutes and his eyes kept glancing over the edge of the paper to look at Ginny with a fondness beyond anything Hermione had ever seen.

And then there were Fred and George who hadn't moved from their chairs since Ginny had come down. Hermione still couldn't tell them apart from a distance, even though she had known them for such a long time. She needed to get close to see a slightest difference between them.

One of them suddenly looked up, his eyes darting to her for a moment. Immediately she felt a blush creep to her cheeks aain, just like the day before when she had been hugged. She turned around so no one would be able to see her red face.

George chuckled and shook his head when he saw her avert her eyes. He supposed she felt awkward because of that moment the other day. When she left the room, he noticed the little hairs at the back of his neck settled down again, even though he nad never noticed them standing up in the first place.

He looked away from the door, feeling puzzled, and then noticed Fred looking at him curiously.

"What?" George asked.

Fred shrugged.

"...Nothing." he said in a whisper. "I just thought I'd remind you of our conversation from this morning."

George nodded slowly. "I remember it quite vividly. But...oh, never mind. You don't understand."

"Yeah I do!" Fred hissed. "You fancy her, even though you _know_ she's off limits."

George stood up abruptly. "That just proves my point."

"George..."

George left the room, throwing the door shut behind him on his way out. Fred slowly got to his feet and followed him.

"Wizard Wheezes stuff." He said to the others tiredly.

Once he was at the bottom of the stairs, he raised his voice.

"George!"

He heard the door to their room close softly and he headed upstairs in persuit. Not bothering to knock, he walked straight in.

"What was that all about?" he asked sharply.

To his surprise, George shrugged his shoulders.

"Don't know, really."

"...You don't know? You cause a scene like that and you don't know?"

"You're telling me what to do and what not to do and you're surprised I blow up? I'm the same age you are, Fred."

Fred sat down on his own bed. "Then act like it instead of blowing up like a little child who didn't get his present. If you think I don't understand then explain it to me. I'm your brother, remember. Your twin."

"Yeah, I know. But it's just...that I don't know how to explain..."

"Well, do you like her or not? That's a start."

George bit his lip. "...I do...I think. I don't know, because she's not my type...but..._And_ she's Ron's girlfriend...so I don't _want_ to like her..."

"But do you or don't you?" Fred said with a serious face.

George shook his head with a chuckle. "See? Even I don't know what I feel. And it's not like she's helping either, blushing every time she's in the same room with me...it's not _all_ up to me, you know."

"I know. It takes two to tango."

George's face lit up as he suddenly though of something. "Hey, can't you try and find out how serious she and Ron are?"

"George..." Fred said hesitantly. "You're the one who told me about seeing them liplocked."

"_Nearly_ liplocked." George muttered softly. "Please Fred."

He pouted his lips and made little whining noises like a dog. Fred couldn't help snorting.

"Alright!" he said, laughing loudly. "Alright."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A gently knock on her bedroom door shook her from her thoughts. Still trying to shake off that feeling of shame that bothered her so much, she went to open the door. She wished she knew what had caused her to feel this way and, more importantly, she wished she knew what she could do to make it stop. Having feelings for George just felt so wrong to her, in every way imaginable.

"It's Ron's brother, for heaven's sake."

She shook her head, composed herself and then opened the door.

"Hey Hermione." Ginny said cheerfully. "I wondered...if I could talk to you."

"Oh, sure...of course. Come in." Hermione stepped aside to let her in.

"I just wanted to thank you for what you said to me yesterday...I could hear you through the door..." she added apologeticaly. "And well, it made me think."

Hermione smiled relieved. "I'm glad. I hope I didn't offend you with anything..."

"No, you didn't. You gave me something to think about, like I said. And...I think you were right. I've been...selfish, locking myself up and not realising I was hurting everyone around me. I don't want to be like that anymore. I want to be...carefree...and happy."

She gave Hermione one of her rare smiles.

"I know I'm not the only one who misses Harry. But it felt like that to me. Like no one could understand how bad my pain was."

Hermione slowly raised her hand and placed it on Ginny's shoulder. "Everyone understood why you reacted the way you did, he meant so much to you...No one was angry with you. But you took so long that people started to worry."

"Hermione, you do realise you're not completely telling the truth now, do you?" Ginny said with a grin. "I remember _someone_ blowing her lid when I didn't want to come out of my room. I heard every word you bellowed that day."

Hermione blushed. "I am really sorry about that. I never wanted to say the things I did, but I wanted to talk to you. I needed to. And when you didn't answer, I felt so alone and helpless. I'm sorry. I didn't have the right."

"Yes you did. I _was_ selfish. And you needed to get through it too. I'm sure that shouting at me helped in some way."

Hermione laughed. "I suppose it did."

"You know," Ginny said. "I miss this. Just talking...laughing. Why did you move away? I know everyone missed having you around."

"I needed to get away. I needed new people around me who didn't know..."

"Did it work?"

"Not really." She said with a smile. "Making new friends never was my strong point. Last time it took a Troll. But the girl I work with is really nice."

"Why didn't you invite her along?" Ginny asked. "I'm sure she would have been welcome here."

"Yeah, Ron liked her. But she already had some plans. Christmas is really big in her family."

"Ron liked her?" Ginny said, raising her eyebrow.

Hermione grinned. "Yeah, she and Ron got on great when they met. I think I could sense a certain something."

Ginny looked up sharply. "He wouldn't- You two are-"

"In a relationship? Ginny, how long have you known me?"

"Well, you never know with the two of you. I remember a certain evening in my sixth year when you came hurtling into the girls' dormitory, blushing madly because you finally had kissed Ron...So it wouldn't have been a weird assumption to make." She said.

"That was the first and most certainly the last kiss that will ever occur between me and him."

Ginny giggled. "Well, as long he's happy...Shall we go downstairs?"

Hermione nodded. "You know, I think you're the only one who truly believes me in this house."

"About you and Ron, you mean."

"Yeah. Your mother greeted me as if the date for the wedding had already been set. She was _glowing_."

"O heaven forbid." Ginny said melodramatically. "What an unholy future, to be married to a Weasley."

"There's nothing bad about being part of the Weasley household. That's how I feel, you know. Your entire family has accepted me as part of their daily lives. Since Hogwarts!"

"With some minor glitches." Ginny muttered, remembering the tiny easter egg Hermione had gotten in the middle of the Triwizard Tournament because her mother had been reading a little too much Witch Weekly.

"You know what I mean. I almost feel like I really am part of this family already. Even Fred and George treat me more like a sister now, what with all that joking and teasing. I always would have liked a sibling..."

"Not just siblings, perhaps." Ginny said with a smile. "I notice things, you know."

"Like what?" Hermione said sharply.

At that moment the twins came hurtling past.

"Hey Gin, Hermione. It's time for dinner. Coming?" George said, quickly glancing at Hermione.

Fred rolled his eyes and pushed his brother on. "We heard mum shout out the window so it won't be long. Ron's already setting the table."

"We're coming." Ginny soothed them.

She held Hermione back and waited till her brothers were out of earshot.

"Things like _that_." She said to Hermione contently. "Just like that, right there."

Hermione pushed past her so Ginny couldn't see her reddening face.

"Oh, bugger off." She muttered quietly.

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	6. Letters

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter six: Letters**

He spotted her figure underneath one of the apple trees that hid their house from the view of the muggle village down the road. She had her head bent over a piece of paper in her hand.

He opened the kitchen door and leaned against the doorpost. Now she had lifted her head up and leaned it against the trunk of the tree while the soft breeze played with strands of her hair. He could guess that, to complete this idyllic picture, she had her eyes closed as well.

He zipped up his jacket and tucked his hands into his pockets. She didn't seem to hear him trod down the snowcovered path even though the snow cracked underneath the soles of his shoes.

"Good morning!" he said cheerfully.

She started, but gave him a big smile.

"Same to you." She answered.

He looked at the house for a moment. He could swear he saw George staring at them from their bedroom window, but he ignored this and turned back to Hermione.

"Isn't it a bit cold to sit out here in mid-winter?"

She shrugged. "Perhaps. But after a whole night of working on a letter, the one for your shop, I could use a bit of fresh air to wake me up. I love this place, it's so beautiful. I can't tell you how much I envy you guys for growing up here."

He chuckled. "Living far away from people all together isn't everything, you know."

"Nor is living in the middle of a nosy neighbourhood with people asking your parents what school it is again I go to all year." She said with a grin. "My parents must have created an entire school, teachers and all, to keep the neighbours satisfied."

"Hmm..." he watched her wrap her scarf around her neck a little bit tighter.

"Well, perhaps you're right." She said suddenly. "I should go back inside. It _is_ cold."

She stood up and started walking back up to the house. Fred walked with her.

"So..." he said.

How was he going to bring up the subject of her and Ron without being too obvious? But now he had already started a sentence, he had to finish it. Oh bugger.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Oh...I, er, just wondered...what else have you been up to lately? You told us about college and where you work...But what about your spare time? You don't use that to study as well, do you?"

He was proud of how he had managed to save himself out of this situation, even though his excuse was a bit crappy, and gave himself a mental pat on the back. But he still had to get to that one subject...

She shrugged.

"Nothing much, really. I don't much fancy going out in weekends and most people I have classes with are really stuck-up. So I'm not doing very well at making new friends. And my job can be really demanding, so it does take up a lot of my time." She pointed at the paper in her hand. "This is actually a case they put me on. They gave me the task of copying it out. We don't get to do much of the exciting things, Tess and I. Mostly we get to bring in the coffee."

"Tess?" he asked.

"Oh, that's the girl I work with. We get along pretty well, she's a nice person. I think Ron feels the same about that."

Fred pointed his ears. Ron. That was more the subject he had been steering towards.

"Ron met her?"

"Yeah, when he came to pick me up before we came here."

"And...you say he likes her?"

Hermione grinned. It was actually quite funny to see how the entire Weasley family had been expecting something that would never happen. They were all so sure that she and Ron would someday become more than friends one way or another, that the mere mention of his name linked to that of another girl caused them all to loose their bearings. Ginny had been quite surprised and Hermione knew Fred would react no different.

"Yeah." She said to tease him. "I could feel a certain chemestry between them. And I only left the room for a few minutes."

"But-" Fred began. "But what about you? I mean..._mum_ thought that you two- You didn't mind him liking another girl?"

She giggled. "Why would I? I think it's great he finally found someone he can go out with. Now if he could just pluck up the courage..."

Fred decided that he might as well ask about it bluntly now that they were discussing the subject openly.

"So the two of you aren't a couple." He said.

She nodded. "Exactly! But it's been virtually impossible to make any of you see that."

Fred scratched his head as he held the door to the kitchen open for Hermione to walk through.

"Well, now I feel...er, stupid." He grinned apologetically. 'We all really thought-"

Well, now he could go and tell George what he had been wanting to hear. Hermione was apparentally as single as they were. George had no reason not to pursue her now. Somewhere in the bottom of his stomach, Fred felt a knot growing.

He couldn't truthfully tell George she was off limits anymore, the only thing that had been keeping his brother from throwing himself at her.

He bit his lip and sat down on the kitchen table. He patted the spot next to him.

"Want some tea to warm up?"

She nodded. "I'd love some. Something to warm me up would be great. But then I really need to go take a shower before anyone else does. I need to look my best for christmas day, right."

Fred smiled and walked towards the stove to put the kettle on.

"I'm really grateful that you're helping us out with the shop, you know. Now we can really do something to clear up that mess."

"I'm going to try and go round the two main lawyers at the firm. They'd just charge you twice the sum of the shop all together. But if I can convince mr. Hoot to help, I might even be able to knock off ten percent of the costs."

Fred beamed. "That's even better!"

He looked at her from the corner of his eyes.

"...George will be really grateful too." He said testily.

He watched her fumble with a teabag and saw how her face reddened slightly. He lowered his eyes and let out a soft sigh. The kettle behind them started to whistle and he jumped up to pour out the boiling water.

Hermione waited till he had filled both mugs and then enclosed one of them in her hands.

"Well." She said brightly. "I'd best get going. I've got a few things to do before the others get up too. You now, sending that letter, take a shower..."

She smiled.

"Thanks for the tea."

Fred nodded. He waited till he heard her footsteps go upstairs before letting out his breath. He poured one more cup of tea and decided that he should go to his room to tell George the news.

He made his way up the stairs, carefully carrying the mugs without spilling. George looked up when Fred came in, but only for a moment.

"Quick, close the door." He said. "I've got this idea. I'm not sure if it'll work, or basically what it's going to do...But I've got this small amount of acid from a Mimbulus mimbletonia..."

Fred was surprised to see George pouring over a cauldron, holding a vial of something dark green and odorous. This was not what he had been expecting.

'What had I been expecting?' he wondered.

A nervous brother, clasping himself to his leg in the hope of good news?

"I have a hunch that, if we add this to the recipe of the Puking Pastilles, we can make the effect much more realistic and durable. That's what I'm hoping for anyway."

Fred set the two mugs down on their old desk.

"George...you might want to put that acid down. I had a talk with Hermione..."

Eagerly George pushed his experiment away.

"I saw the two of you outside." He admitted. "What did you find out?"

"Well...She's not together with Ron."

George's face faded into a smile. He turned back to the cauldron and the vial and allowed a content expression to wash over him.

"Well...That's...interesting."

"This doesn't mean you should pounce her, alright? I'm warning you to behave."

"Listen to you!" George said with a laugh. "You almost sound as if you fancy her yourself."

"Don't be daft." Fred said harshly.

He threw himself down on his bed and stared at the ceiling.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ron opened his eyes and looked at the alarmclock on his bedside table.

"Ugh..." he muttered

Nine o'clock in the morning was way too early for him to get up, especially on a day like christmas day. But christmas day also meant that he'd have to do odd jobs around the house now his mother would be busy in the kitchen all day.

He got up from his bed, carefully unfolded his best pair of trousers and reached for his dress shirt. Then he headed downstairs to have breakfast in the kitchen. Ginny stumbled down the stairs behind him, hoisting up a brilliant blue stocking while she held a hairband in between her teeth.

"Morning." She said as she whipped her hair into a ponytail. "Any idea when the others are going to show up?"

He shook his head. "Probably somewhere around five."

She ducked underneath his arm, slipping into the kitchen before he could. He was still getting used to her presence again. They had all gotten used to her being quiet and hiding in her room. And now she was practically bouncing around the way she had done at Hogwarts.

"Morning mum." He greeted when he entered the kitchen.

His mother was wearing her flowery apron. She waved her wand at the direction of the stove and a pan of sausages flew towards the table where it emptied itself onto two plates. Ginny attacked her plate almost instantly. Ron looked at her, feeling slightly bemused.

"So first you don't eat a thing and now you stuff food down your throat as if you're a starved Acromantula." He remarked.

She looked up indignantly.

"At least I'm out and about again." She said dryly. "You should appreciate that I deem you worthy enough to bask in my radiant presence."

Ron snorted. "You spent too much time listening to Fred and George when you were little. They've ruined you."

She chuckled. "At least I chose the right brothers for my example. Imagine what I would have been like if I had chosen to be like Perfect Per-"

She stopped and gave Ron a frightened look. Ron looked at their mother, but judging by her ever busy bustling around she hadn't heard. Ginny cast her eyes down.

"I'm sorry." She said to Ron. "I didn't mean to...Is he still not talking to them?"

Ron didn't answer. His apetite had gone now, as had Ginny's. She cleared her plate and placed it on the kitchen counter. She sat back down at the table after that and avoided looking at her brother.

"Oh, Ronnikins!" sounded two extremely amused voices from the hallway. "You've got an _owl_!"

Ron's face paled.

"Oh no..." he muttered.

He thundered out the room and chased the twins up the stairs.

"Give me that _now_!" She heard him shout.

A surprised Hermione stepped into the kitchen, her hair still wet from having taken a shower. She looked at Ginny questioningly.

"Do you know..."

Ginny shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Hermione joined her at the table and reached for a mug.

"So how are you feeling now?" she asked.

Ginny gave her a soft smile. "I'm good. It feels good to act cheery again."

"To act? Please don't say that none of this is real...You shouldn't put on a performance to please us."

"No, that's not what I meant. It's hard, sometimes, but being who I used to be, or _trying_ to be, makes it easier to feel normal again. I guess that doesn't make much sense...But keeping up this front helps me to become the way I used to be. Happy and cheerful. And that feels good...I realised I've been missing out on a lot because I was busy mourning and I have a lot to catch up on too. Just now I had to ask whether Percy was talking to us again or not. And I just have a lot of cheerfulness to catch up on in general." She added with a smile. "Just don't mind me if I look gloomy today. You just enjoy yourself. Oh, and look out for the mistletoe. It gets everywhere."

"I'll be sure to stay away from it." Hermione said assuringly. "And now I'll be off again. I need to send an owl. I wrote this letter to help your brothers in their predicament. If this works out, they can be spared a lot of trouble."

"I think you can borrow Pig from Ron. Mum sent Errol to Bill's last night and he hasn't come back yet."

"Thanks."

Hermione slipped off her chair and headed back up the stairs. She had been up all night to write that letter. Version after version she had left in a pile of unfinished letters all over the floor. Finally she had been satisfied with one of them and she had allowed herself a moment of fresh air outside beneath the apple tree.

She took the letter up to Ron's room and knocked on the door.

"Can I come in?"

Taking the muttered answer for a yes, she opened the door. Ron snapped around and quickly hid something behind his back. She gave him a strange stare.

"Hi." He said quickly.

"I wondered if I could borrow Pig..."

"Sure. He's on his perch over there." Ron said without moving.

Hermione slowly placed Pig on her shoulder and walked back towards the opening of the door. Before she left, she decided she wanted to say something.

"I told Ginny and Fred, by the way." She said calmly. "That we aren't an item." She added when he still hadn't reacted at all.

"Oh...that's fine." He said, noticing she was eyeing him suspiciously. "No joke from us then?"

"I guess not...Seemed like the right thing to do to tell them...Oh, Ron this is rediculous! _What_ are you hiding behind your back?"

"Nothing." He piped.

"Oh don't be silly, Ron. What is it? A letter, a drawing? What!"

"It's personal." He said defensively.

His face coloured a light shade of crimson. She couldn't help letting a smirk wash over her face.

"Oh, I see. Accio!"

The scrap of paper was tugged away from his tight grasp and shot towards Hermione. She didn't read the letter, but let her eyes dart straight to the bottom. Her smirk grew.

"Oho!" she said.

Ron strode over to her and snatched it back. "Don't you tell _anyone_."

"Why not? They'd be pleased to see you happy."

"You know what my family is like! You had some first hand expercience with them."

"Don't worry. I'll not tell a soul. But you could have told me, couldn't you? It's not like this is a big surprise..."

He sat down on his bed. "There's nothing to tell! I knew you'd be like this, too. But it's just a letter...Anyway, what do you need Pig for?"

"Weasley Wizard Wheezes. But don't you try and change the subject! That's not _just_ a letter!"

He smiled and threw his pillow at her. "Shut up."

She threw it back.

"I will."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	7. Mistletoe

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter seven: Mistletoe**

"Mum! Good to see you."

"'Ello, madame Weasley. Eet ees good to see you again."

Mrs. Weasley welcomed her eldest son and his wife into the house with a warm smile.

"Welcome, dears. Give me your coats and I'll put them away. Where are the children?"

"Zey are with my muzzer in France. She vanted to 'ave zem over for ze 'olidays."

Bill quickly guided Fleur into the livingroom so she wouldn't see the relief on his mother's face. The sittingroom had been decorated with colourful christmas baubles and paper decorations. In one of the corners of the room there stood a small tree.

He spotted some mistletoe hovering near the fireplace and reminded himself to stay clear of it. Hermione and Ron were playing a game of chess and George and Ginny were watching. Fred had seated himself in a comfortable chair and seemed to be doing some calculations.

"Bill!" Mr. Weasley said cheerfully, looking up from his paper. "And Fleur too, of course. Have a seat!"

Fred closed his notebook.

"Want something to drink?" he offered them.

Bill looked at him.

"...Did mum make that special egg nog again?" he asked quietly.

Fred grinned. "As always. Shall I get some for Fleur too?"

The girl nodded. "But only a small glass, s'il vous plaît. I am not sure I vill like eet."

Fred walked to the cabinet, avoiding looking at the others. They had been playing that game all afternoon. Well, Ron and Hermione had. Ginny had been whispering instructions into Hermione's ear and all George had done up till now was drool.

Fred sighed. He had already told himself he was not going to let this bother him. Carrying the two drinks back to the guests, he put a smile on his face. He didn't want anyone to notice that he saw Hermione blush every time she was in the same room as George.

'Oh well.' He thought dismisively. 'At least George'll get what he wants.'

"You look distant, Fred." Bill said. "Something wrong?"

"Oh, I'm sure mum told you about the shop."

Bill nodded. As if instructed to do so, Fleur stood up to join the others at the chess game. Fred took her seat thankfully.

"I'm just a little bit tired, that's all."

Bill shook his head. "Not strange either. You must be stressed beyond your limits, what with everything that's going on."

"Yeah. But we're getting help."

"Mum said that too. Hermione, huh? Good thing Ron managed to keep things going between the two of them."

Now it was Fred's turn to grin. "I think you've got the wrong picture here, Bill. George is actually the one drooling over her shoulder, if you look closely you'll see. Ron is apparentally as single as ever."

"So _George_ and Hermione are together?" Bill was confused.

He, like most others of the Weasley clan, had been so sure that he knew what the situation was like.

"I need to come over more often, I'm missing stuff here."

"Well, he hasn't won her over just yet, but it's probably just a matter of time. After all, he does posess the Weasley twin charm."

"I guess it does explain why you're so tired. With George busy getting his hormones to calm down, you're the one who needs to focus on the Zonko-problem."

Fred decided to nod and to leave it at that. For the moment it seemed to be the best explanation. Then their mother appeared in the door opening. She had taken off her flowery apron and changed into her christmas sweater.

"Dinner is served." She informed them with the hint of a proud expression on her face.

When they saw the table and all the food that had been layed out for them, they could understand her pride. She had really outdone herself this year. Eagerly they chose a seat and waited for everyone else to calm down.

Mr. Weasley carefully started cutting the hare that stood in the middle of the table, giving each of them a generous portion.

"Merry christmas everyone." He said happily.

They raised their glasses, muttering 'merry christmas' in return. Hermione was careful enough to take a bit of everything, not wanting to miss out on something. Ron was doing the same in much larger portions.

"Ron, can't you behave at the table just this once?" his father whispered.

Starting to glow red again, he quickly took his plate back and started to eat.

"This is really delicious, mrs. Weasley." Hermione said.

Mrs. Weasley seemed pleased and took another sip of her wine.

"Suck-up." Ron joked to her under his breath.

"Just you wait till I tell Tess about your table manners. See if she'll still like you then."

"You wouldn't..."

Ginny looked up. "Tess?"

"That collegue to which Ron has taken a liking." She answered with a grin. "And apparentally they write to each other, don't you Ronald."

He stared at her.

"You said you wouldn't say!" he hissed.

But as he looked around he saw that no one but Ginny had heard.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"I am positively, absolutely stuffed." He managed to announce.

He sank into one of the chairs and let his hand fall down on his stomach.

"Well you shouldn't eat that much then." Ginny said. "Every year you eat too much and every year you say you're stuffed. And every year you end up feeling like the hare we just ate!"

Hermione grinned. Not wanting to get in the middle of a brother-sister fight, she got up and started to clean up the dishes from the dinnertable. She glanced at the twins in the corner and again found herself blush when George made eye contact.

Quickly turning her attention back to the plates, she left the room. She walked through the hallway and into the kitchen to find Fleur and mrs. Weasley chatting pleasantly about all sorts of things. She placed the dishes on the counter and headed back to the livingroom.

But in the hallway she bumped into someone she hadn't expected. "George..."

"Yes?" he said calmly

"W- what are you doing here?" was all she managed to say.

"Oh, I thought I'd give you a hand...don't you want me to?"

She cursed herself for blushing again. What had brought this on? Why was she behaving like an idiot? And why did everything she said or thought sound utterly rediculous? She couldn't help noticing that George had suddenly taken a step closer.

He kept his eyes on her face and she almost wished he'd reach out to take her hand.

'Get a grip!' she thought wildly.

If she could just find a logical exlpanation for this then- Her thoughts were cut off when he suddenly did take her hand, almost as if he had read her mind.

"Oh..." was all she could say.

He smiled. She looked completely embarassed and somehow it became her. He took another step closer and she could practically feel his breath on her face. He looked up to the ceiling and grinned. She followed his eyes and saw a small bundle of mistletoe sprout just above her head.

She looked back at him and suddenly, but slowly, he started to bend his neck, bringing his face towards hers more and more. She could feel her heart beating extremely fast in her throat.

'This is rediculous...' she thought again.

But she slowly noticed that she was leaning in too. If they kept this up, there wouldn't be any air left between the two of them...

A sudden loud bang made her scream. The hallway started to fill with a rotting smell, acompanied by yellowish smoke. George pulled away and looked at the staircase as the hallway filled with the others.

"What's going on?" mrs. Weasley demanded.

"The Mimbulus mimbletonia!" George whispered horror-struck.

He jumped around Hermione and rushed up the stairs and was quickly followed by Fred, his wand at the ready. The others slowly retreated back into the livingroom, some more angry than others.

Mrs. Weasley was obviously keeping her anger inside for the sake of the holiday.

"Zose boys..." Fleur said to Bill. "We must make sure zat our children do not grow up like zat."

Bill quickly ushered her out of his mother's way. Ginny guided a clearly shocked Hermione to a chair.

"Hermione, are you alright? What happened, what were you doing out there?"

But Hermione shook her head. She was still wondering what they had been doing herself.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"So then what happened?" Tess asked curiously.

Hermione shrugged. "Nothing much. He ran upstairs because it had been their experiment that had exploded."

"Wow...Those Weasley boys are quite confusing, aren't they."

Hermione laughed. "Yes they are. So if you're thinking about going after Ronald, be careful. It might turn out differently than you expected."

Tess giggled. Had her face not been in the fireplace, Hermione was sure she could have seen her blush as well.

"Oh, I have to go now. Christian's back with my mum and dad. Say hi to Ron for me!"

And then her head vanished from the hearth to show nothing but ashes an coal. Hermione stood up and looked at the clock. It was still early. She headed back upstairs and locked herself in her room. She pulled out some fresh roles of parchement, her quill and an inkwell and then bent her head over the files she had received by mail.

She tried to focus, but it didn't work. Ten minutes later she still hadn't written down anything but the title. Somehow the image of George's face up close kept reapearing in her mind over and over again.

'Stop it.' She told herself violently.

This was going to end right now. She forcefully brought her quill down on the paper and jabbed right through it. Angry with herself, she threw it away. Then she threw herself down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. After a while, she didn't know how long, she heard footsteps going past her room.

There was a knock on her door but she pretended to be asleep. She wasn't about to face the entire Weasley family when her mind was in this kind of mess. She heard that someone sigh and walk away. When the footsteps had gone, Hermione turned on her side.

If she didn't sort this out quickly then she didn't know whether she would be coming down at all. Suddenly her door burst open.

She scrambled up, her heart beating in her throat. Ginny stood in the opening where the door had been, her wand in her hand. She stuffed her wand back up her sleeve and walked towards Hermione.

"What _are_ you doing." Ginny asked. "Locking yourself away from the rest of the world, to leave us in worry? Now tell me what's wrong."

"If you would kindly put that door back on its hinges and close it again..." Hermione said painstakingly.

Ginny stood up and waved her wand at the big wooden slab on the floor until it had resumed its place and then leaned against it. She looked at Hermione as if to examine every inch of her face. Hermione turned her eyes to the ground.

"You disappeard quite quickly last night." Ginny started. "Are you ill?"

"No..."

"Then are you...I don't know, homesick?"

"No..."

"Then what's wrong with you? You missed almost everything. See, your gifts are in a pile at your door. You missed mum's singing, the twins dancing a foxtrot together...You missed George kissing Phlegm because she was stupid enough to stand beneath some mistletoe..." she added testily

As she had been expecting, Hermione's attention awakened. Had she been a cat, her ears would have pointed.

"Oh...I suppose she slapped him for that?" Hermione said airily.

Ginny grinned. "No, not really."

"Oh."

"Because he never kissed her. But he kissed you, right? _That's_ why you vanished when they came back from cleaning up the experiment."

Hermione wished fervently she could vanish right there. Ginny's eyes seemed to pry even more.

"I'm right!" she declared with shock. "Merlin, I'm right!"

"No, you're not!" Hermione said defensively. "His mouth never touched mine."

"Oh..."

Hermione carefully made sure she didn't say anything that the explosion had been the only thing keeping that kiss from actually happening. But she might as well have told Ginny anyway, because the girl's smirk didn't seem to move.

"But it wasn't for lack of effort, I presume..." she said, unable to wipe the grin off her face. "I mean, it was pretty obvious to me. He spent the rest of the night looking at the door in the hope that you'd come back down again."

"Well I didn't. And I'm not going to either. I'm going to pack my luggage and head back for my appartement. I've got loads of stuff to do and it doesn't help me that your brother is staring at me like a-" she stopped before she would say anything more.

"What stuff?" Ginny said, raising her eyebrow. "Stuff like spending the holidays alone? Hermione, work can wait."

"Not anymore, Ginny. I'm trying to get my mind back. It took me a long time to get my life back on track again and I'm not going to ruin that just because of a silly crush."

"So you like him too! _Tell_ him, Hermione. I think this might really be it for him. I've never seen him like this...I don't know, but he's...puppy-like all of a sudden."

Hermione didn't answer her.

"Alright. Fine. But at least have the decency to open your presents before you go. You never know, what's inside them might change your mind."

Then Ginny got to her feet and left. Hermione let out a loud sigh. She reached under the bed for her trunk and threw her clothers into it. She directed her wand at the desk, the closet and the pile outside the door and one by one, all her things flew into the trunk. She closed it with determination written all over her face. Levitating the thing down the stairs, she headed down to say goodbye.

"Hermione!" Fred said surprised when she walked into the kitchen, all set to go.

"I have to go." She said apologetically. "I need to do some work and I've only got a few days left, so...Thank you for your hospitality mr. and mrs. Weasley."

"Oh, don't mention it dear." Mrs. Weasley said confused.

Hermione nodded, took her coat from the coatstand and took her wand in her hand. With a soft 'pop' she disapparated. The Weasleys looked at each other.

"Was something wrong?" mr. Weasley asked.

His wife shrugged. Ginny was the only one who didn't need to wonder. She looked straight at George.

"No, she was just fine." She said, stressing that last word.

George looked back at his sister almost guiltily

"But it's cruel not to go through if you build up someone's expectations."

She reappeared in her livingroom with a thud. She hadn't been concentrating enough, she told herself angrily. Not enough 'deliberation'. Otherwise her landing would have been graceful and, most of all, soft.

She upturned her trunk and pushed it up to the kitchen table before looking around. It was silent and dark. She had almost forgotten how empty this place could be.

Crookshanks looked up from his basket in the corner and yawned at her in recognition. Waving her wand at the kettle, it flew towards the stove where it began to boil slowly.

The biscuit tin on the table stared at her and she reached out. Inside it were some ginger newts, although she didn't know why. She hated ginger newts. But, looking at them, she took one grudgingly.

She opened her trunk, pulled out her files, parchment and ink, and stuffed the closed but unlocked trunk underneath the table. She looked at the things in front of her for a moment. This was why she had left the Burrow. To work. To escape the hustle and bustle of the Weasley family.

But as she bent her head down over the parchment once more, she realised very well that she had been escaping something completely different.

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	8. A Special Way to Say Sorry

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter eight: A Special Way to Say Sorry**

"And then, Christian told us about him dating this girl he met the last time he had gone to the doctors'. She had had an accident with her broom or something. Well, anyway, she stumbled into him and he was chivalrous enough to carry her into the waiting room." Tess giggled.

Hermione sighed. "I guess I should have tried getting into Healing after all. Perhaps _then_ I would have met someone I could go out with. That brother of yours is lucky."

"Lucky? You should have seen the look on my mum's face when he said that his christmas present for her this year would be him finally getting married! If she hadn't been too shocked to react, he would have been tortured out of it. I don't call that lucky. And anyway, what are you talking about. You meet nice guys. Remember that story you told me a week ago? Nice guy...nearly kissing you...all that flirting..."

Hermione turned around with a snap.

"I _don't_ want to talk about George." She said waspishly. "I never should have let myself get carried away like that. Oh, what is it with those Weasley men..."

Tess nodded. "I know what you mean. Don't get me wrong, but I don't understand how you let Ron get away."

Immediately she blushed, but Hermione just laughed.

"It's alright. I intercepted one of your letters to him. Don't worry, I didn't read it. But you'll understand why I let him go in due time. Perhaps I just knew him too well before we tried something."

Tess gave her a cheeky grin. "All the more reason for me to go and get what I want before I get to know him too well."

She hoisted up her skirt a few more inches. Hermione laughed. At that moment, Andersson walked by with a scowl on his face.

"Please stop horsing around. This isn't a brothel, miss Farlane. If I see you sporting one more skirt that doesn't reach your knees I will do more than just give you a reprimand."

"Wow, someone had a holiday hangover." Hermione muttered once he had once again locked himself in the conference room he shared with Vivian Kramer.

Tess sighed. "Well, I suppose he has a point. If a client walked through the door and saw us mucking about he could lose interest in this company. And they'd take it out on us. And I for one need to be on the payrole. The rent price isn't getting any cheaper."

Hermione opened her bag and pulled out a small pile of paper. She smiled at Tess.

"I know what you mean. I spent a huge part of my holiday working. I even got some stuff done for class."

Tess glanced at the clock in the lobby. "Well, all that work sounds like you've deserved a break since you didn't get one during the holiday. How about you and me go clubbing tonight?"

Hermione hesitated. "I dont know..."

"I know this really cool place on Portobello Road..." Tess said teasingly. "It's the only wizarding place there, but it's really cool."

Hermione bit her lip.

"Oh, come on. You can go out and meet lots of cute wizards, better looking and more charming than the George Weasley who left you hanging."

But Hermione shook her head. "No, I don't think I'll go. I'm still a bit bummed out about myself. I just can't understand why I fell for him in the first place, but I'm very keen on getting over it. And I don't need lots of cute wizards to help me do that."

Tess pouted. "So now you're going to leave me hanging? What's a girl to do these days..."

"Well, you could spend your night doing something usefull. Or harass Ron if you like. I'm going to have a quiet night in with Crookshanks and my telly."

She packed one set of copied files back into her bag and took her coat.

Tess shrugged.

"Perhaps I'm going to Christian's to prevent him from signing a wedding contract. He would do something silly like that if he felt like it." She took her coat as well. "I'll see you tomorrow, then. I start at eight. You?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, I'm not working tomorrow. I've got class. Cindy's filling in for me."

Tess scowled. "Wonderful. Airhead Cindy. She's so superficial that if you fell down a hole as shallow as her, you'd just bump your toe."

Hermione laughed. "She seems alright to me."

"She never came on to you during a company party, too sloshed to the bone to realise you were in fact _not_ Ben from accountings." Tess said viciously. "I never want to be reminded of that again."

Hermione grinned. "No? You should be sorry you just told me, then."

"Oh, come on. Not even you are that cruel."

"...That's true. Well, I'm off. A whole night of bad programming awaits me."

Hermione slung her bag over her shoulder and waved at Tess as she walked out the door. The air was cold and still had that wintery smell. She headed down to the muggle part of London where she rented an appartement she could barely afford.

She didn't feel very at ease, walking through the city at night, but she tried to avoid apparating within short distances, because it made her incredibly nauseous. She turned another corner and stopped quickly when an ambulance rushed by. Another thing she hated about the city; those alarms and sirens going off all the time.

She was relieved when she had reached her building. It was in one of the good neighboorhoods of the city and she greeted the man at the door happily.

"Evening mr. Forbes." She said cheerfully.

"Evening." He greeted back.

This was the porter, who was only being kept on by the owner of the building because they were good friends. She walked up the stairs and fumbled for her keys. Once inside her appartement, she threw her keys on the kitchen counter and walked over to the phone.

Clamping the horn between her shoulder and cheek, she walked over to the clothespeg on the wall and hung her coat on it. She ordered a pizza from her favourite pizza place and then flipped the light switch on so she could see where Crookshanks was.

The cat yawned and crawled off the couch. He twisted around her feet a few times and then climbed back onto the couch again. Hermione sighed and placed her bag on a chair. She pulled out the Emmerdale files she had copied for herself and slapped it on the table

She opened a cupboard and pulled out a bottle of wine to go with the pizza. She sat down and wanted to start her college work on the files when there was a knock on the door.

"Blimey, they're fast..." she muttered.

She grabbed her wallet and rushed forward to get the door. She opened it as she searched through her wallet .

"I'm sorry, I don't have any small change." She said without looking up. "I hope that's not a problem."

"Depends on what you're paying for." Said someone, sounding very amused.

She looked up feeling utterly embarassed. "George! I was expecting the pizza guy..."

"Well, I'll leave if you want me to."

She shook her head. "No, no...Come in."

George accepted the invitation and walked inside.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting anything." He said, eyeing the bottle of wine on the table.

She quickly got out a second glass. "Actually I was going to do some homework...But that can wait."

Even though she had told Tess and herself that she wanted nothing more to do with this boy, she couldn't help blushing when he looked at her. He quickly averted his eyes.

"So...what made you come here?"

"Well, I was hoping you had some news on our case..."

"Not really. I talked about the problem with mr. Hoot this morning and he said he's looking into it. But he went out at lunch and won't be back in till Thursday. He's an old man so he's not allowed to work too much."

George sat down. "Oh, that's too bad. I was hoping we could talk about it tonight."

"We can still do that!" she said hastily. "I mean, I have thought about it some more."

She gulped down her wine quickly before something even more silly would come out. George grinned and quickly emptied his glass too, not wanting to me impolite.

"Really? So what do you think?"

He took the bottle and refilled their glasses. She drank half of it to calm herself down before she answered. What was wrong with her? It hadn't been this bad at the Burrow.

'But now the two of you are alone. In the Burrow there were others walking around who could walk in.'

"Well...I, er, Zonko needs to show some proof, doesn't he? He can't just accuse you of something if it's not true. If he took you guys to court with out some evidence, he'd probably end up losing and paying your fees."

She took another gulp of her wine and sat down on the couch next to him.

'Calm down.' She told herself.

She felt like a little silly schoolgirl with a crush. She watched him drink his wine silently. She was surprised to see that the bottle was nearing the bottom already. Finding another excuse to get up and do something, she stood up and went to get some more wine from her cupboard. At least that way she would have a glass filled in case she needed time to think of an answer.

'And the alcohol can calm me down.'

She set the bottles down on the table and filled their glasses again. George had, in the mean time, taken off his jacket. He patted the seat next to him.

"So, what if he shows up with something he calls proof?" he asked.

"Then it would be up to us to show that his 'evidence' is false."

"And how would we do that?"

"Depends on what he presents, basically." She said.

When he took another sip of his drink, so did she. She knew she was going to cross her limit soon, if she kept this up. But she needed to calm down.

But every time he looked at her, said something, or even brushed his arm against hers accidentally, her heart pounded just a little bit faster involuntarily. It felt like someone was driving a nail through her chest.

So, as only remedy she could think of, she emptied her glass once more. Soon the second bottle was empty, and George opened a third one without Hermione noticing. She seemed really tense.

He guessed that was because he had behaved so badly towards her the last time he had seen her. He felt guilty, because he hadn't meant to hurt her at all. He had wanted quite the opposite.

Taking another sip, he decided it was time for him to do what he had come by for. To apologise. If he wanted to have a chance with her, that was what he needed to do. He turned towards her, feeling a slight tingle in his head and a more fierce one near his heart.

"Hermione?"

She looked almost frightened. "Yes?"

Her head seemed to spin a little.

He turned away again and looked ahead of him. She did the same, both of them now staring at the black tv-screen. Suddenly he placed his arm around her shoulders. She hiccupped out of shock and, though with widened eyes, chose to ignore it. What else could she do?

"I'm sorry." He said.

She didn't look at him. She didn't dare.

"For what?" she barely dared to ask.

"For what I did at the Burrow."

Her heart fell. So he didn't like her after all. He had just been playing a little game. It had just been the mistletoe, then.

"Doesn't matter." She said coolly, taking another sip from her drink.

George didn't say anything. The silence was horrible, but somehow her ears were filled with some sort of dull humming that always bothered her when she had been drinking more than she had intended. She felt his hand against the back of her head, his fingers playing with her hair.

She wondered if he even knew what he was doing. She looked at the clock and saw that the time had somehow jumped from six p.m. to two a.m.

She turned her head back to look at George, wondering if he had noticed the time passing by so quickly. His eyes looked misty, a sign that he had been drinking a little more than he had intended too. She cast her eyes down to look at her hands in her lap.

Suddenly she felt something that could only have been a feather light kiss on her cheek. Her eyes opened wide with shock. Then she felt another. She bit her lip and tried to ignore it, sure that he had just been a little too careless with the wine himself.

But she felt another kiss...and another...

"What makes you so...affectionate all of a sudden." She said quietly.

He stopped and tried to get her to look at him. "...You do."

Suddenly she looked at him and his eyes didn't let her gaze go.

"Wha-" she managed to say.

He tried to find some encouragement in her eyes and moved his head forward. Before she had really processed what was happening, he pressed his lips against hers.

Her head started spinning all over again and she closed her eyes. When she didn't kiss back, he pulled away and looked at her.

Had that really happened?

She looked at him, searching for an answer. He kissed her again and slowly she started to kiss back this time, careful and cauctious. She placed her arms around his neck so he couldn't pull back again.

This was really happening.

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**AN: Well, I know Luli's going to hate me for updating this soon, but this chapter just needed to be posted today, I realised. I'll just quickly explain why: Today is my one year aniversary with my boyfriend so that makes me feel just that little bit extra lovey-dovey right now. And besides that, the dialogue at the end of this chapter isn't all just made up! ;) Some of it was actually voiced to me by him a year ago, (me being in the place Hermione was now), but I'm not going to tell what bit!**

**Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter! Yay for Hermione/Twin! **


	9. Morning After

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter Nine: Morning After**

She opened her eyes and a bright light blinded her for a moment. She wondered why she felt so wam and fuzzy. She sat up and saw that it was a blanket that had been keeping her warm. She raised her hand to her head and felt a stinging headache coming on.

She sighed and leaned her head between her knees. This wasn't her bed. This wasn't her bedroom. This was her livingroom and this was her couch. She wondered what she had been doing the night before. Working till midnight? Going out with Tess?

She must have had a good reason to fall asleep on her couch. She noticed the empty bottles on the table. There were three of them.

"Oh..." she groaned.

Surely she didn't drink all of that alone. Tess must've been there, something like a girls' night out, only not out, but in.

She stood up and stumbled into the bedroom where she grabbed a towel and then headed into the bathroom. The warm water made her feel releaved. Her headache seemed to disappear slowly as she massaged the shampoo into her hair.

She turned the tap open a little more and let the jet of water wash the shampoo from her hair again. Then she turned off the shower and dried herself off with her towel. She looked into the mirror and saw she had some kind of dark mark in her neck.

She rubbed it curiously but it didn't go away and she decided to ignore it. Walking back into the bedroom, she dripped water all over the floor. She sat down on the bed to put on her jeans and a brown shirt with a v-neck. When she leaned down to put on her shoes, she glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside table.

"Shit!" she exclaimed.

Not only was she too late for her first class, she had missed that one completely. But she could never even be there on time for her second class either. It was eleven thirty already. She groaned again.

Now more slowly, she finished getting dressed by putting on her neat tailored black jacket. She loved this jacket very much. She looked at herself in the mirror and suddenly her eyes opened wide. She looked at the spot in her neck again and bit her lip. This was a hickey!

'Definitely not a night out with Tess then...But what..'

Then she remembered. It had been George she had been drinking with. It had been George who had started to kiss her. She suddenly remembered how tender their first kiss had been. He had been careful not to scare her off.

"_What makes you so...affectionate all of a sudden."_ She heard herself say.

She blushed at remembering his answer.

"_...You do."_

Her heart began to race all over again. It was the most romantic thing that had ever happened to her, not to mention the most unexpected.

She touched the hickey in her neck again, this time as if it was something sacred. She couldn't help feel giggly. The memories of their kisses made her close her eyes with pleasure again. But then she realised there was something missing in this morning-after picture.

Where was George?

She hadn't seen him when she had woken up, but then again she hadn't been looking for him either. She walked back into the other room and looked around.

The glasses had been placed on the kitchen counter and she knew she hadn't done that herself. And she was also pretty sure she hadn't wrapped herself in a blanket. But George wasn't in the appartement anymore.

She felt a little taken aback at that realisation. She grabbed her coat and her bag, took the keys and her wallet and then closed the door behind her. She leaned against it and wondered what had really happened the day before.

She remembered how sweet George had been, how he had apologised and, again, how he had kissed her. She couldn't imagine anyone, least of all George, saying all of that just to be able to snog someone.

'No, he wouldn't just do that and then leave me, would he?"

The hesitation inside her grew and instead of happiness, she now felt doubt. She turned around with a snap and rammed her key back into the lock and walked back inside.

She threw her bag down on the floor and leaned her hands on the kitchen table. She reached out to the biscuit tin to grab one of those disgusting ginger newts, gritting her teeth. There was nothing, no note, nothing. Nothing that proved he had actually been there. Not even a stupid note to say where he had gone.

She vagule noticed a newspaper headline concerning the appointed life sentence of Theodore Nott, but ignored it. She looked at the clock again. She was too late for the second class now, too. Well, if she wasn't able to go to class or to the office, she might as well go figure out what was going on.

She grabbed her keys again and stormed out the door.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Fred! That alarm has been going off for _ages_! Will you get up or shut it off!" Ginny shouted.

Fred looked up with bleary eyes. "Wha-? Oh, I'm sorry."

Ginny crossed her arms. "That's it. Next time mum sends me on errands, she can forget it."

"What are you doing here..." he asked sleepily.

"Mum sent me to buy some stock for the potionkit back home. And she wanted me to check on the two of you. She's afraid that you're not looking after yourselves." She looked around and noticed the empty pizza boxes and bottles of beer. "Gee, I wonder why." She added sarcastically.

Fred yawned. "At least we keep the shop clean. Our customers have no acces to our personal mess."

He got to his feet and rummaged around through the papers on the desk he had fallen asleep on.

"Fred, didn't you get any sleep last night?" Ginny asked him worriedly. "You've got a bed, why don't you sleep in it?"

"I was so busy last night that I just fell into a coma. That's all." He said dismissively.

"So you meant to tell me you didn't stay up because you were worried about this mess."

He sighed. "It feels like George is too busy with other things to worry about the shop."

"What do you mean?"

"Check his bed, he won't be there. He went out after the shop closed last night and I never noticed him get back."

Ginny raised her eyebrow. "George? Do you know where he went?"

Fred shook his head.

"But after all that hastle back home, about Hermione? I thought he was serious about her and now he went clubbing with some other girl?" she placed her hands on her hips and was about to go on a rant when the door that separated the appartement from the shop opened.

George had a smile on his face that seemed to tell Ginny enough. She glared at him.

"Where _have_ you been?" she said sharply, sounding unnervingly like her mother.

George seemed to wake from his trance of happiness. He looked surprised to see his sister here.

"Well...Top o' the mornin' to you." He said, regaining his happy smile.

His cheerfulness didn't seem to pass on to his siblings.

Fred yawned and looked at him with tired eyes. All he really wanted was to go to bed and sleep on a real pillow. George shook him awake with a loud shout.

"Hey! I came here this early for the shop, you know. If we're not going to do some work I could have stayed where I woke up. I could have stayed somewhere else."

"Somewhere _where_?" Ginny asked sharply.

"Somewhere private. I don't have to tell you where I go or not."

She huffed.

"And there I was thinking you actually cared about her!" she exclaimed, not even bothering to name the girl she had in mind.

George shrugged, knowing very well what girl Ginny was talking about. He didn't say anything because he felt it wasn't any of Ginny's business. Whether she was right or not. He looked at Fred.

"So shall we get to it?"

Fred nodded.

"I asked Verity to be there as well. She should be here in half an hour." Fred said. "Give me fifteen minutes to take a shower."

Ginny looked at her two brothers.

"This is just great." She said sarcastically. "One sleeps on his desk, the other doesn't sleep at all!"

She turned around and walked towards the door.

"I'll be sure to tell mum how you're all doing. But let me tell you this. I expected something better from you, George." She snapped around, her red hair whipping in the air.

George looked at the alarm clock. It was ten a.m. He wondered if she was up yet. If she remembered just as much as he did.

He grinned. He had never expected her to react the way she had done. He had though she would have resisited more, to push him away. But she had allowed him to kiss her straight away. And she was a ferocious kisser.

With a smirk, he realised he was sensing a strange feeling in his stomach. Was that...love? he was certainly hoping it was. He cast a look in a mirror and noticed the dark circles under his eyes. No wonder, though. He had spent an entire night romancing.

He remembered how sweet she had looked when she had fallen asleep against his shoulder. He had caressed her hair from her face, set his alarm for the next day and looked at her till he had fallen asleep himself.

The door opened and Verity came walking in, more than twenty minutes early. She greeted him and sat down, straightening her magenta coloured robes.

"Morning, mr. Weasley. Mr. weasley asked me to sit in on the meeting. He said it would 'broaden my business sense'."

Fred walked in at that moment, a towel wrapped around his waist. He looked at Verity with embarassement.

"Oh...I'm...sorry. Verity, why don't you go to the backroom downstairs, I'll go change."

When the girl had left, George grinned at his brother. "Nice, Fred. I think she was impressed. Now all you have to do is sound interesting all day and she'll be putty in your hands."

Fred huffed. "That really is the only thing on your mind, isn't it. Girls, girls, girls. I have no intention of hitting on Verity, but it sure does explain where you have been all night. Who was it you talked into bed this time? I wonder if you even remember her name."

"Fred, since when have you been this spitefull? And I'm not that kind of Cassanova either. You know that just as well as I do."

Fred ignored him and walked out of the room to get dressed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"What is wrong, Vivian darling? You don't seem to be paying as much attention as you normally do."

She looked up from her notes.

"Oh..." she smiled. "There's nothing wrong, Greg. I'm just thinking about something, nothing more."

Greg Andersson stared at his collegue. She leaned forward and looked straight back at him. She pouted her painted red lips and brushed her foot aginst his leg.

"And _now_ I'm thinking about what I'm going to do tonight...Something that includes wine and that cosy little restaurant up Kensington street?"

Greg smiled. "Hmm...sounds delicious."

He winked at her.

She stood up and walked away from the table, taking the effort to move her hips the way she knew Greg liked her to. She opened the door and looked out.

'No Granger today, then. Just Farlane and Parker.' She though to herself.

She sighed. Today seemed to be such a dull day. Normally there would be something she could do or say to get the assistants out there to grit their teeth and grovel. She loved doing that. But not today. Her mind just didn't have the energy to think of something. Perhaps there was something wrong with her.

No, that wasn't it. Perhaps because Granger wasn't in today. She always enjoyed messing with that girl's temper. So was so easy to set off and to manipulate in going into a mad rant. All she needed to do was tell the girl to bring in coffe and she seemed to snap.

Vivian sat back down at the table and rested her feet on it. She bit her liop and looked out the office window. From where she was sitting she could see that girl Tess Farlane. She hated her. Well, not especially _her_, but what she represented.

She herself had been even less than what Tess Farlane was now. She had only been a secretary yet she had managed to work her way up to partner by wearing short skirts, the right sort of bra and a blouse that hinted that there might be a bit of fooling around if the right buttons were pressed.

Sublte promotions had been enough for her to let Andersson have some of what he wanted and didn't have at home. And still those girls out there bothered her. She felt the need to remind them that she had risen above their level. And Granger, the eager little brat, was the worst of them all.

Vivian looked at the adressbook in front of her. Some names had a small 'x' behind them, meaning she had sent them a christmas card already. There was an 'x' behind Granger's name too. Vivian frowned. Why had she sent one to that girl again?

'Weasley.' She remembered. Granger was going to stay with the Weasleys. Apparentally a different branch on the family tree.

She grabbed a pencil and viciously crossed out the name. Then she closed the adress book with a snap and grabbed her purse from the top of a pile of old newspapers.

'_Prosecution has begun. Old Death Eaters are finally given what they're owed. Nott and Goyle behind barrs. Others still working on their defence, but will it be in vain?' _she read quickly.

"Come on, Greg. I'm hungry." She said, leaning down on his desk so he could see right into the cleavage her jacket was showing.

Greg nodded amusedly. "Whatever you say, Vivian."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"And basically, once we launch the new line of snackbox treats, sales should go sky high round finals period. All we need to do is find someone to try out that Brainbuster Bubblegum and see how it works." Fred finished.

George looked pensive. "What about Zonko, though? Won't this trouble make people hesitant about buying our stuff?"

"I hope not. We need to keep it quiet, though. We need to sort this mess out as soon as possible." Fred said with a sigh. "This means you can't mention it to anyone either, Verity." He added.

"Yes mr. Weasley. I understand, sir."

Somewhere in the front of the shop, the bell above the door chimed. No one seemed to notice.

"So...until this idiocy has passed, no new launches?" George asked.

"Probably not. Depends on how it turns out. But not now. That's the best option we have right now. On the other hand, we do need to keep our income up. I have no idea how much this courtcase is going to cost us."

"Don't worry. I think I can persuade Hermione to put some more speed into it."

"_Excuse me?_" a very angry female voice said from the opening of the door. "So _that's_ what everything was about? Your _courtcase_?"

The twins snapped around. A very angry Hermione stared at them.

"Nice of you to let me know. Good _day_."

She turned around and marched out the door. That explained why he hadn't left a note, she though viciously.

Fred slowly turned towards George and stared at him incredulously.

"...No..." he said. "Tell me you didn't..."

George said nothing.

"George! Tell me it wasn't _Hermione_ you spent the night- For goodness' sake, you idiot! I thought she meant something to you!"

George finally faced his brother. "She does. Believe me, she does."

"So you went out and showed her you cared by sleeping with her!" Fred yelled.

"Quiet down! I did not sleep with her!" George yelled back. "She does mean something to me, of course I didn't sleep with her!"

"So tell me why she was so angry right now."

"Listen, Fredrick. I don't have time for this right now. I've got to go find her."

George brushed past his brother and stumbled out the door. Fred sighed. He could only hope George was telling the truth. Because if he wasn't, Fred was sure his twin-hood would come to an end real soon.

A cough made him look up.

"...I'll just go and alfabetise the muggle collection." Verity said quietly, moving towards the door carefully.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

George looked down the street. He recognised a flash of brown hair near Flourish and Blotts and started to run in that direction.

"Hermione! Wait a minute!"

She walked on faster, ignoring him as best she could.

"Come on, Hermione...Please?"

She halted suddenly. He caught up and smiled at her while catching his breath.

"Thank-"

"You think this is funny." She stated, looking at his smile. " Well, ha ha. You could have told me this was about the shop, but you didn't. Do you think it's funny to toy around with someone's feelings? That's just cruel and vile, George! Next time you need my help, you can forget it."

She wanted to turn around, but he grabbed her bu her shoulders.

"You're not letting me explain." He said calmly. "If I wanted your help with our shop then I wouldn't have gone about getting it like this. You honestly think I would? Hermione, when I said I was sorry about what happened at the Burrow I meant to say that I was sorry for hurting you. That I had never intended to hurt you, nor that I would ever want to."

"You sure don't show it though, do you." She snapped. "Two times you managed to make me think you cared."

"Three times a charm?" he whispered.

"What?" she asked. "Are you completely insane? I _hate_ you."

"No you don't..."

"I-"

"I'm sorry about this morning. I would have left a note, but there was no paper."

"Hmm." She huffed waspishly. "Some excuse."

"Fine. You don't believe me?" he asked. "Then please allow me."

He pulled her into the middle of the street without warning, scooped her into his arms and, before she knew what was happening, he had dipped her into a very pationate kiss for everyone to see. Once he had lifted her up again, he looked at her with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

"Believe me now?"

She huffed again, trying to cover up her blush.

"Well..." she said uncomfortably, starting to walk on because she didn't know what else to do. "...I suppose I do..."

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	10. Old Faces

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter Ten: Old Faces**

"_Excuse_ me, but what is _this_?"

A young boy looked up nervously. "T- those are the files you requested, ma'am."

"It's '_miss' _, and I did not request some junk about a...a _joke_ shop." She said, almost repulsed.

The boy took the letter with a shaking hand. "S- sorry, miss Kramer. M- must have been in the stack of those files you requested. I'll get it back to mr. Hoot's desk."

Vivian shook her head. "Ignorant employees."

Next time she wanted to read something like jokeshop wars she'd go out to buy a tabloid. She started to read her file but was distracted by a loud giggle from outside her office. Obviously annoyed, she peered through the blinds.

"No way!" she heard Farlane say. "In the middle of Diagon Alley?"

"Right in front of Flourish and Blotts!"

"Oh, that's so romantic...So, you two dating now? Congratulations! It took him long enough."

Granger was blushing madly and nodded.

"Ugh..." Vivian said to herself.

So Granger had a boyfriend now. What a big deal. They should be concentrating on their job, not boys. There was nothing interesting about their conversation. And her niceties had been for nothing too, she realised. Apparentally Granger didn't know _him_ after all, so she had failed at getting back in contact with-

She stopped her own thoughts.

'For goodness' sake, I sound horrible.' She told herself.

A small pang of jealousy hit her though, as she remembered the cute redhead she had seen Granger with before the holidays. She didn't know his name, but he sure as hell looked better than Greg Andersson did. She found herself envying Granger for such a cute boyfriend. She was sure that that was the boy the girls were talking about.

She sat back down in her chair. The case she was supposed to read was boring her so she decided that she would hand this one over to Greg.

"And I'm going out to lunch." She said out loud to her empty office.

She walked through the door, passing Hermione's desk and ignored their conversation.

"I can't wait to see him." She heard Tess say. "Does he look anything like his brother Ron?"

At this, Vivian found herself stopping. Wasn't Ron the name of _his_ little brother? She hung back and decided to listen in just a little bit longer.

"No, not really. If you want, we can pass the shop today. He lives above it, so he'll be there."

"No, thank you. I'l leave you two lovebirds alone. The first few days should be spent without intrusion from others. Just so you'll feel the butterlies as long as they last."

Hermione giggled. "Well, we're having dinner at my place tonight. He said he was curious about my cooking skills."

They laughed.

"Well, you know what they say. There's no better lovin' than something from the oven."

Vivain shook her head. Perhaps this was a coincidence after all. She had probably been thinking of someone completely different. She was almost turning the corner again so she could hear more about this boy Granger was talking about, when the same boy as before tapped her shoulder.

"Excuse me, ma'am. But there is someone here to see you...A new client."

She looked at him with annoyance. "Can't he wait?"

"I don't think you want to make him wait, ma'am. His name is Parkinson."

She snapped around. "Come again?"

"It's a mr. Philip Parkinson...says he needs a lawyer."

She was at loss for words. Philip Parkinson? Here?

"What should I tell him, ma'am?"

She still said nothing.

"I'll direct him to your office, then?" the boy asked.

With a muttered whimper she nodded her head and slowly walked back to her glass window office, making sure all the blinds were wide open. She sat down, her hands trembling as she reached for a pen.

Parkinson, a name that was well known in the papers these days. And even though You-Know-Who had been defeated, people like Philip Parkinson still had some power you didn't want to come across in a dark alley at night.

A knock on the door made her jump.

"I was told that you could help me." A tall, dark haired man said.

She nodded.

"Philip Parkinson." He said, extending his hand.

"Vivian Kramer." She replied meekly. "How can I help you."

He unbuttoned his suit jacket to reveal a grey dress shirt. "As you might have heard, I have been summoned to the Wizengamnot. I have been accused of being a member of...He Who Must Not Be Named's followers."

She shivered.

"These are lies, of course." He continued. "But I need someone to help me show them the truth. So I seek the help of a lawyer."

She said nothing at first, taking a good look at the man. From her college days, she remembered it was her duty to defend everyone who came to her for help.

"Mr. Parkinson." She started finally. "I am fully away of the accusations and insitgations made towards you. And I know anyone has to right to an atourney. But I'm afraid I can't risk the name of this company. I feel very sorry to disappoint you, but Andersson, Hoot & Kramer can't be seen as the Devil's Advocate, even if it's just in the eye of the public. Whether you are innocent or not has nothing to do with it. There are other firms who would gladly help you, but I'm afraid that we have to decline..."

She looked at him from the corner of her eye. Was he becoming angry? Was he reaching for a wand? He didn't seem to move anything but his hand, to cover his mouth as he coughed. Even a simple gesture like that scared the living daylights out of her.

" I see." He said slowly. "Afraid of a bad reputation. I can't say I apreciate your atitude towards me very much but I do fear that I see your point. Guilty by association, these days."

Vivian nodded nervously. "Exactly...I do hope you won't...hold a grudge against us..."

"There is...no way I can persuade you?" he said, his voice low and careful, but threatening none the less.

"...No..." she squeeked.

Suddenly he stood up. "Very well. All I can say is that I hope you won't regret your decision. Good day, miss Kramer."

He nodded curtly and left her office. The relief that washed over her was so great that she nearly fainted with all the air that came rushing back into her lungs.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hermione watched the strange, tall man walk into Kramer's office. She looked at Tess with a knowing glance.

"Do you know who that is?" she whispered knowingly. "That's the father of a Slytherin girl who was in my year..."

"Death Eater?" Tess mouthed with a look that told Hermione how shocked he was. Hermione nodded.

"Yeah...Listen, I'm going to go talk to Hoot. I just want to disappear for a moment. I don't want to run a risk here. Perhaps he recognises me."

Tess nodded quietly. "I'll come get you when he's gone."

She watched Hermione walk away and turn a corner. Somewhere inside she felt sorry for Hermione. That girl had been through more than most people realised. All through her school years she had been in danger because of her friendship with Harry Potter.

Tess also felt admiration for her. Other people wouldn't have stuck by their friend through this much trouble, yet she had and she had survived. And now, she had retreated silently so she could avoid someone while everyone else she knew would have run away screaming their heads off, begging not to be killed there on the spot.

Tess had to admit that the admioration she felt was bigger than she'd let on, knowing Hermione would feel awkward and uneasy if she did know.

At that moment the door opened again and the man left quietly. Tess looked at her desk, fixing her eyes on something so she wouldn't have to look at his face.

"Excuse me, miss." He said.

She looked up slowly. His face was handsome, but knowing what she did, she was too scared to notice.

"Is there another lawyer in this office I can talk to?"

She said nothing, still looking up at him. What should she say? When she stayed quiet, he turned around.

"Very well. I will find it myself."

He walked down the corridor Hermione had just walked down towards Hoot's office a few minutes ago. Tess got up to shout something to stop him from going there, but at that moment Hermione came walking back, a file under her arm, a tissue to her nose and her head averted.

She avoided bumping into him and walked straight back to her desk. Parkinson never even glanced at her and walked straight towards Hoot's office.

"What happened?" she asked Tess.

"I think Kramer turned him down so he's trying to ask Hoot, I guess...Are you alright?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah...he didn't see me. And I talked to Hoot about Fred and George's problem. He said he'd start writing an official complaint right away and he's going to try to sue Zonko's right back for false accusations."

She looked at the clock.

"Damn...Still an hour to go..."

"Don't worry, Parkinson won't come back this way. He'll take the other exit."

Hermione shook her head. "No, that's not it. I just want to see George again. I miss him...does that sound weird?"

Tess laughed. "Not at all! I know exactly how you feel."

"What, you're missing _Ron_?"

"No, I was talking about when me and Steven were together. You know, my ex, the one who worked at Florian Fortesque's."

Hermione nodded. "I've got some advice for you. Don't ever mention Steven to Ron. He might get a sudden attack of jealousy."

"Even though that was over a year ago?" Tess asked surprised.

"Yes." Hermione said seriously. "He never really did forgive me for kissing Viktor."

"...Krum?"

"Uhuh."

"No way! You kissed Viktor Krum and never told me?"

"Well, sorry! I was fifteen at the time...At that time, everyone seemed to know thanks to Rita Skeeter...I didn't think it mattered now."

"Of course it does! I want to know when you kiss someone famous! This is such a good thing to throw at someone like Kramer! Someone like that would hold a grudge against you just for something like that." Tess said with a grin that could possibly be considered evil.

Hermione grinned and leaned her head on her hand. "To be honest, he wasn't even that good a kisser. Ron's surprisingly better."

"I hope you're not talking about me." A male voice said suddenly.

She wheeled around and jumped up merrily.

"George!" she said excitedly. "I missed you!"

She gave him a kiss on his kiss when she hugged him. George smiled and kissed the top of her head.

"I missed you too." He said quietly so only she could hear.

When she pulled away from the hug, she looked at him.

"Why are you here?"

"I thought I'd come pick you up after work." He said sweetly.

She blushed at this attention and giggled. "But I still have another hour to go..."

"No, you don't." Tess said suddenly. "Go on, I'll cover for you."

"Thanks Tess." Hermione said sofly. "I'll pay you back soon!"

Tess smiled. "Just go. I'll get paid for overtime anyway. Nice finally meeting the face that goes with the name, George!"

George nodded at her with a smile and then wrapped his arm around Hermione's shoulders, guiding her away from her desk and out of the building onto the street. He was about to kiss her again when she suddenly turned her head away and started sneezing violently.

"Excuse me." She said, wiping her nose with a tissue. "I must've caught something at the office. Hoot was sneezing too."

George kissed the top of her head. "Do you feel okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. But I've got so much to tell you! Hoot is taking on your case and he's going to sue Zonko's right back! And he promised me to write an official letter of complaint to Zonko's lawyer. Oh, and you'll never believed who walked into the office tod-"

She bumped into a girl's back.

"Sorry." She muttered. "I didn't mean-"

"Granger!" the girl said surprised, her voice sounding rather familiar.

Hermione recognised that same pugfaced girl from her Hogwarts days.

"...Pansy." she acknowledged with a nod.

Hermione's grip on George's arm became stronger.

"...Not the Weasley I'd expect." Pansy Parkinson said, forcefully trying to be civil.

At that moment, the same tall man from before came walking through the office doors.

"Daddy!" Pansy said, clasping herself to his arm.

He looked grumpy. "Come on, Pansy. These people don't know when they've got a job to do. We'll find a different lawyer some place else."

"Yes, daddy."

She cast a look over her shoulder at Hermione as they walked away. George turned to face her.

"_That's_ the person who came to the office today? A Death Eater?" he hissed when they were out of earshot.

She nodded quietly. "But I think he just wanted us to represent him...You read about the accusations against him, didn't you. He probably thinks a lawyer can help him out. Fat chance..."

"You're not actually going to help him, are you?" George said sharply.

"I don't think so. I can't imagine the company wanting to risk their name. But he tried fervently. When Kramer said no, he headed to Hoot's office."

George grabbed her shoulder. "If he walks through those doors again, I want you to walk out. All of them recognise you, they all know who you are. Who knows what they'd go to get revenge!"

She cupped his face in her hands. "Don't worry. We would never represent someone like him. And I think I've proven I can take care of myself in the past."

She turned her face away and reached for a tissue to blow her nose again.

"Must be coming down with something." She added.

George still seemed a little worried about what he had just seen, but he smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her again.

"Let's go and have a drink." He said. "And then you can tell me what Hoot said about our case."

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	11. Hoot

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter Eleven: Hoot**

Hermione opened her eyes. She could feel a heavy hand on her waist and she giggled at the memories of the night before. They had gone for a drink and when they had finally started on their walk to his place it had been five hours later.

With empty stomachs and a headache coming on, they had stumbled up the stairs and crashed into his room with a lot of noise. They had spent the rest of their time awake kissing passionately until they had fallen into a deep coma.

She looked at the clock on his bedside table. It was noon already, she realised. She tried to sit up but had to move George's arm before she could get out of bed without him noticing. She walked over to the washing basin at the other end of the room and looked into the mirror above it.

Her hair was an even bigger mess than usual. And her nose was unusually red too, from all that sneezing, she supposed. Splashing some cold water in her face, she felt much more awake. George turned over on his side in the bed and slept on soundly.

Hermione smiled and tiptoed back towards the bed to try and find her own clothes. Casting off the t-shirt and boxers she had borrowed, she hoisted herself into her own pair of jeans. She slipped her purple blouse on and then opened the door.

She had actually never been in this part of the building before. She hadn't seen anything but the shop and its back room. A long corridor stretched out before her with several doors, inviting her to open them.

The first one turned out to be the toilet, the second one was locked.

'Probably storage.' She thought.

The final door she opened, skipping to doors on the way, led her into a small kitchen. She walked over to the fridge and took out a bottle of milk so she could pour herself a glass. The kitchen door opened behind her and she beamed at who came in.

"Good morning." She said cheerfully.

"H- Hermione?" he said confused. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, Fred. It's you. I thought for a moment you were George..." she said with a blush. "I, er, spent the night here..."

"Oh..." Fred said.

He walked over to the stove and lit a fire beneath the kettle of water. Hermione sat down at the table and drank her milk quietly.

"It's not what you think." She said suddenly. "We didn't-"

"You don't have to explain what you do to me." He said quietly. "It's none of my business."

"I know, I just...felt like explaining..." she said.

It surprised her how awkward she felt that very moment, talking to Fred about her and George. It didn't make any sense.

"Well...I'd better go and wake him then..."

She got up and left the kitchen, walking back to George's room quickly.

George still seemed to be in a coma. She forced back a violent sneeze and slowly bent down to kiss him. His eyes shot open the moment her lips touched his.

"Good morning." She whispered with a grin.

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. "Morning, gorgeous."

"It's past noon. Fred's up already. He was quite surprised to see me."

"...'S none of his business, though, is it?" George said, hiding a yawn.

"That's what he said, too." Hermione grinned. "You know, I'd better go."

"Why! It's Saturday, you don't have class or anything, do you?"

She shook her head. "No, but I think it's best if I go home. Fred feels awkward about me being here and no one should feel awkward in their own home."

"Let me get dressed and I'll walk you out."

He threw his sheets aside and searched for his pants on the floor. Hermione turned around and looked away with a blush on her face. George noticed and grinned. Sometimes he forgot she was still a bit younger than he was and that she was also just a little bit more naïve than girls his age.

He slipped on his magenta robes and snaked his arm around her waist.

"You can turn around now." He whispered into her ear before he gave her a big kiss in her neck.

She giggled and turned around to kiss him.

"Come on, I'll walk you out." He said.

She walked out the bedroom door and down the set of stairs into the back of the jokeshop. She looked around at the stock they were selling. Some of it was not only funny, but really ingenious too. She smiled. During her school years she hadn't always appreciated their cleverness enough, but then again, probably no one had.

George unlocked the shop door and opened it just in time to let in an olw with the Daily Prophet. Hermione reached out and it landed on a cupboard near her so she could untie the paper. George looked at the grey sky outside and sighed.

"It'll be a slow day, today." He stated. "Not a lot of people go shopping with bad weather coming on."

He snapped around when he heard Hermione gasp loudly.

"No!" she said terrified. "It can't be..."

George walked over to her and snatched the Daily Prophet from her hands. A large photograph of an elderly man covered most of the front page.

"Lawyer found dead in office after accused-Death Eater sighting." He read slowly.

Hermione was keeping back tears and she was biting her lip. George turned to face her.

"Lawyer? Is this...that guy Hoot from your office?"

She nodded quietly.

"...Yes..." she whispered.

"He's _dead_?"

"I've got to go to the office...I've got-"

"I don't think you should go." George said forcefully.

"They might need me!" she said hotly.

"Someone _died_, someone was killed! What if more of those creeps are hanging back to do you in as soon as you show up! You're one of the reasons they're being prosecuted the way they are, Hermione!"

She snapped around. "Well, I'm going anyway. You may care about me, George, but that doesn't give you the right to tell me what to do. I'll see you later."

She dove under his arm and disappeared out the door before he could stop her. She felt a horrible little pang of worry start in the pit of her stomach. She hadn't meant to blow up like that, but now that she had, she felt guilty.

What if this would make George like her less? What if this tiff made him see he didn't love her enough to take that from her? And what to think about poor mr. Hoot. She just couldn't believe that someone would kill him.

When she arrived at the building, a crowd of journalists and curious shoppers blocked her way in. A ministery official spotted her behind a photographer and motioned her to come forward.

"Miss Granger?"

She nodded.

"Please go inside and wait there. We want to talk to all the employees."

She was pushed through the door quickly before a reporter could get her attention. She brushed her hair from her face and spotted Tess at her desk. She was holding a box of tissues, quietly handing a clean one to the teary woman next to her every so often.

"Morning..." Hermione said.

Tess and what turned out to be Vivian Kramer, looked up for a moment. Hermione had never seen Vivian this frantic. Her eyes were red and puffy, like she had been crying all morning.

"She's been like that ever since she came in." Tess whispered when Vivian blew her nose noisily. "I never thought she'd be this upset about his death..."

Hermione slipped of her jacket and folded it over her arms.

"I never thought about him dying anyway..." she said in a hoars voice.

Her nose began to itch again and she grabbed a tissue from the box Tess was holding. Tess looked at her for a moment.

"Tell me something...Are those the same clothes you wore yesterday?"

"...Yes...w- why?"

"I've never seen you were the exact same clothes two days in a row."

"I didn't sleep at my place." Hermione tried to say casually. "But what does it matter now?"

"It matters because it keeps my mind off things...It keeps my mind from thinking about Hoot." Tess said quietly. "It gives me something else to think about. I just can't get it out of my head."

"Ladies and gentlemen. Please take a seat and we'll be with each of you as soon as possible." Said the ministery official who had pulled Hermione inside.

He walked over to the three of them, his eyes locked on Vivian.

"Miss Kramer? Would you like to start? Anything you know could be useful."

"A- all I know is that this man Parkinson came in yesterday." She said in a hysteric voice. "He wanted us to represent him but I said no...He kept trying to persuade me, it was so threatening!"

"Calm down, miss." He said soothingly as she began to sob again.

"I saw him too." Tess said quietly when she noticed Vivian wasn't going to say anything more than she had done already. "He asked me if there were more lawyers in the office."

"Did _you_ direct him to mr. Hoot's office?"

"No!" she said, sounding offended. "I was too scared to say anything! Hermione had told me she'd recognised him and-"

"Miss Granger, you recognised him?"

She nodded subdued. "I recognised him from a few years back when I went to Hogwarts with his daughter. She was in Slytherin, I in Gryffindor. Needless to say we didn't get along well."

"Do you remember ever seeing him in the company of known Death Eaters?"

She shook her head. "No, but his daughter dated Lucius Malfoy's son."

"And we all know they like to keep things in pure-blood circles." The official muttered before turning back to Tess. "How did he react when you didn't answer?"

"He- he said he'd find someone himself and then turned away and walked towards mr. Hoot's office of his own accord. That's all I know..."

He hummed seriously and wrote down every word. "And that's all anyone saw? We don't have much to go on..."

"Wait..." Hermione said slowly. "...I saw him come out of the office. He was angry because no one had wanted to accept him as a client..."

"That's more like it. It's very probable that he was killed because he didn't comply."

"What!" Vivian Kramer shreeked. "But _I_ turned him down too! What if he comes after me next!"

"I don't think that's very likely. If he had wanted to, why not kill you at the office as well. We need more-"

"But I need protection! He might come after me, you don't know!" she continued shrieking.

The official placed his hands on her shoulders to calm her down. "As long as we don't have more information we can't offer you protection. All we can do is investigate this as thorough as we can and advise you to keep on doing your jobs as usual."

He turned around and walked into the middle of the room.

"That will be all for the time being. No one is to speak to the press about this, all communications with the media will be covered by us. Mr. Hoot's office will be off limits for now, but we will examine the files he had in his possession as fast as possible so we can return them to you, allowing you to continue your work. If anyone wants to contact me, I'll be at the Leaky Cauldron for the rest of the day."

Vivian ran after him, trying to clasp herself to his arm as he walked out the door.

"But surely you have one of two aurors to spare to guard me?" she said. "Perhaps just for the office!"

The ministery official rolled his eyes. He looked at the two men who had been helping him calm the press. They gave him a nod and gently took Vivian's arms and guided her back to her private office.

"Calm down, ma'am. We will be here for the rest of the day."

Hermione looked at her pale face as the woman walked by. The dark rings under her eyes told Hermione that Vivian Kramer had been up all night.

"Hey..." she whispered to tess. "Since when did they know about this?"

Tess took a minute before aswering. "Well, since just before closing last night..."

"_That_ long? And no one told me?"

"It was his secretary who found him. The boy is still in shock. And Andersson hasn't been in yet, probably avoiding the press."

Hermione found it alarming to hear Tess tell her all of this in such a calm voice. She had expected her to be shaky or at least taken aback. She herself felt absolutely disgusted with the mere though of that poor man lying dead in his office for hours.

"Aren't you scared?" Hermione asked.

Tess looked away. "...I am. But I heard it all last night and...I've gotten used to this thought...already. I know it sounds horrible to say, but-"

"No, not horrible. Sensible. If we all start living in fear the way Kramer's doing right now...It'd be just like before Voldemort was killed. I never thought all those people would die back then, and yet I was able to accept their deaths more willingly than I can accept this right now..."

She felt her shoulders begin to shake and hid her face in her hands.

"It's alright...They'll get that man and fling him into Azkaban. Why he was dumb enough to add another death to his list, I don't know. But it's secured his sentence before the case against him could even get off the ground. You know it's true."

"...I'm not afraid." Hermione said all of a sudden as she let herself sink into her chair. "George didn't want me to go, but I wanted to be here so I went. He was afraid something would happen and I am not..."

Tess tried to find something to say, but all the words got mixed up in her mind so she decided to say nothing. She looked up when a man from the ministery tapped her shoulder.

"Miss Farlane? The minister sent these files back. They checked out negative."

"Negative?" she asked confused.

He gave a sympathetic smile.

"Nothing ties them to this incident. It's alright for you to get working on these again." He said kindly.

Tess took the files he was holding. He nodded curtly and left. Tess looked at what she was holding for a moment and then turned away from Hermione.

"I've got to get these to Kramer...She'll split them between her and Andersson."

Hermione nodded and rubbed her arms. "Sure..."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Vivian picked at her nails. She had been up all night, wand at the ready. That old man hadn't been killed for nothing. He had probably turned Parkinson's offer down just as she had. And now he was dead and she could end up just the same without help or protection from the ministery.

She nearly jumped whenthe door to her office opened. She jabbed her wand in its direction, causing a ferocious blast of heat to surge over Tess' head. The girl touched the top of her head top check if her hair had been singed.

"The ministery sent back some case files Hoot was covering." She said. "I thought I'd bring them to you."

"Y- yes. Fine, give them to me."

Vivian snatched them from the girl's hands and rammed them down on her desk.

"Now please go, I'm very busy."

Once the door had been shut on the way out, Vivian sat down and let her head rest on the surface of the desk. She had never felt so miserable in her life. She didn't care much about the old codger, even though she didn't think he should have died. But now her own life might be at risk too and no one was trying to help her.

She let out a sigh and lifted her head up so she could read the files she had been given. Perhaps reading them would get her mind off things.

'No...' she thought when she had scanned the first one.

'No.'

The second one wasn't much better, nor was the third.

'Ugh...I'll suppose I'll just give them to Greg. He loves anything that's boring.'

Suddenly her thoughts seemed to stop. She had just read a couple of very familiar names in one of the files. She scanned through it again.

"Jokeshop?" she muttered surprised.

Not at all what she had expected to come across...Though, if combined with the names, hardly something to raise your eyebrow about.

"Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes..."

This was a very pleasant discovery, one that would do quite well to keep her mind of things around here. A grin took shape around her mouth. This gave her an opportunity she hadn't thought she'd ever get again. The Weasley boys were in for a surprise. They had just been appointed a new lawyer.

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	12. Blast from the Past

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter Twelve: Blast from the Past**

"Morning, sleepyhead." A cheerful voice said.

She smiled lazily. "Morning...What...time is it?"

"Only eight o' clock. You don't have to be at the office for another three hours."

She leaned on her elbows and looked around. This was the third time in three days she had woken up in this bed and in this room. She had borrowed the same shirt and shorts she had worn the first night. The thought alone made her blush.

It felt so strange to wake up next to George and yet it was a wonderful thing to realise every morning. After she had come home from the office the day mr. Hoot's body had been found he had taken her out for a nice dinner to get her mind off things and to say sorry for the way he had reacted when she had wanted to support her colleagues.

After dinner he had said that it was too late at night for her to walk back to her place and he didn't want to walk her back, he had said with a cheeky grin. All there had been left for her to do was to spend the night at his place again. And since the day after that was a Sunday, and she didn't have any food in her fridge because she hadn't had the chance to do shopping, she had stayed over again.

Fred had avoided her these three days, she felt. But George said that Fred was just busy with the shop and with Verity.

"...Oh?"

"Yeah, I think he might be trying to impress her." He said with a grin.

"...Good for him." Hermione said slowly.

"Oh well, never mind. How about some breakfast?" he said, clasping his hands together energetically.

"In bed?" she asked hopefully.

He laughed. "Alright. But only because you were coughing and sneezing so much last night. I'll be right back."

He blew her a kiss before closing the door behind him. Hermione sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She looked at her clothes on the floor. She hadn't had the chance to change into something clean for the last three days, she realised. She would have to leave a bit earlier so she could pick out some fresh clothes.

A soft hooting at the window made her look up. She got to her feet and opened the window to let the owl in so she could untie the Daily Prophet from its leg. She ran over to her jeans to get a knut from her pocket to pay it.

Once she had obtained the newspaper and let the owl out, she dove under the sheets again and bent her head over the front page. She creased it out neatly and looked to see if there was anymore news on Parkinson. But the headlines were about Rufus Scrimgeour and his new pick of ministers.

Disappointed she pushed the paper aside and stared at the ceiling. Her stomach was grumbling and she couldn't wait for George to bring in something to eat. She couldn't wait for George with or without food, she thought with a blush. She found herself wondering what it would be like if they would do more than just kiss.

But she realised that, even though she was thinking about it, she was far from ready to actually try something more. She hoped that he could understand that, him being older than her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a little knock on the door.

"Can I come in?" Hermione was surprised to hear a female voice. "George said it was okay..."

"Er, yeah sure." she said confused.

A pair of brown eyes and a head of red hair popped around the corner.

"You settle in quick." Ginny stated with one look at the mess on the floor.

Hermione giggled.

"I haven't settled in." she said with a smile. "I was merely staying over."

"And in my brother's bed, too..." Ginny continued, feigning disgust. "Does mum even know about the two of you? She's going to have such a fit when she finds out. I think she still believes Ron and you have a secret love affair going on behind her back."

"Tell her to intercept his mail and she'll think different. If I'm right, he receives daily mail from that colleague of mine."

Ginny walked in and sat on the bed. "Good for him. And good for you, too. I fell off my broom the moment George told me about the two of you. His timing was, of course, impecible for I was just about to score at Quidditch when he told me. I wasn't much surprised though, just a little disappointed. I had expected to hear news like this from you."

Hermione bit her lip. "...Sorry. I've just been so busy with work and college and George...I just haven't had the time."

She wanted to say more, but at that moment she couldn't escape another violent fit of coughs.

"That doesn't sound good..." Ginny said. "Have you been to a Healer?"

Hermione shook her head. "No, no I'm fine. It's just a cold. I've had it for a few days now, can't be much longer before I'm healthy again."

They looked up when George came in, carrying a tray heavy with orange juice, toast and scrambled eggs. Ginny leaned in and nicked a piece of toast.

"Oi! Hands off!" George said.

Ginny raised her hands in the air. "Alright! I'll leave you two lovebirds alone. I just came over to tell you that mum was planning a fancy dinner for everyone. In celebration of you two, I presume."

George paled. "What, she _knows_?"

Ginny grinned.

"She will soon!" she said as she ran for the door. "Either you or me George! Take your pick!"

And then they heard her footsteps go down the stairs rather quick. Hermione kissed George's cheek.

"I think it's very sweet of you to bring me breakfast in bed." she said sweetly.

He grinned and set the tray on the floor so he could wrap his arms around her. She giggled, but pushed him away.

"No George, I don't have time! I need to stop by my place to find some clean clothes, I can't wear these all day again."

George pouted but she shook her head again firmly. "Nope, not now. Later perhaps. Say...after I'm done at work?"

He grinned. "I'll pick you up and then we can go to your place for a change. I wonder if you still know where everything is."

She hit his arm and hoisted up her jeans.

"I'll see you later." She said, her shirt halfway over her head and a piece of toast clenched between her teeth. "I'm done at five."

"Then so am I."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Are you sure you don't want me to take that case as well?" Greg Andersson asked her.

Vivian shook her head. "No, I'll be happy to take this on."

"I wouldn't mind, you know...I mean, your mind must be so busy with everything that's going on. Don't these men at the doors bother you? You must feel locked up with two guards with you everywhere you go."

She shook her blonde hair. "Greg, darling. I feel fine. They make me feel safe and I think that working at least one case will keep me occupied."

She stood up and shooed him out the room.

"Now let me get on with work or we'll start losing clients."

Greg nodded and turned around, but before he left the room he grabbed her waist and pulled her close to him. She heard him sniff her hair, the way he always did. He kissed her suddenly and hungrily, and she let him, knowing that that was how she had attained her current position within the company.

"Greg, really now." She said with a manufactured ensnaring smile.

"How about dinner tonight." He said in what he considered to be a husky voice. "I booked us a table at that new place."

"Booked already? I _love_ the way you think."

"Eight it is?" he asked.

"How about we go to my place for an appatiser first."

He grinned and licked his lips. "Delicious."

Then he turned around and left. Vivian rolled her eyes. It was just too easy! She picked up the file she had been holding before Greg had come in. She had needed to do quite a bit of persuading to make sure he'd let her keep it.

But she was too intrigued to let it go. After all, it had been a few years since she had last seen him and she remembered those days all too well. Quite the charmer, he had been.

She had been sorry to see him go in the middle of their seventh year. She laughed at the memory of him and his brother flying off on their brooms after having said their thing to that Umbridge-woman.

"Give her hell from us, Peeves." She chuckled out loud.

Covering this case would be her chance of getting him back. She sat down in her chair and leaned back with a satisfied smile.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"He took me out and we went to see a Muggle movie because his dad had said it would be a good idea. I never thought going to a movie theatre could be this much fun."

Hermione smiled. "Glad to hear you two are doing great as well. I woke up to get breakfast in bed."

"Ah, how romantic." Tess said dreamily. "I've still got to convince Ron to do that for me..."

"What, are you staying over at the Burrow already?" Hermione asked shocked.

Tess laughed and shook her head. "No, silly! I'm not as easy to pursuade as you are, apparentally. Judging by the clothes you wore I don't know how many days in a row, _you_ did stay over at his place."

Hermione blushed. "You knew I did. And anyway, nothing's happened yet. Other than kissing, I mean. And he turns around when I dress like a real gentleman. I never though I'd call him that!"

"And like a real gentleman I'm sure he sneaks a peek when you think you're safe." Tess added with a grin.

She closed her book with a loud snap.

"I'm done for today. I think I'll go visit Ron at his training session..."

Hermione closed her notebook too and rested her quill on her desk. She leaned back in her chair and stared out in front of her pensively.

"Be sure not to say anything negative about his play...He'll take it much too personally and avoid you for a month." She said warningly.

"Blimey." Tess sighed. "Ron does come with a manual, doesn't he."

Hermione started to laugh, but ended up coughing again with a painful grimace. Tess patted her back with a worried frown.

"This flu of yours is getting worse. You should go see a Healer or a doctor."

"No, I'm fine." Hermione said when she was done. "Really, I am. Just a bit of a high temperature, that's all."

Tess said nothing and looked away. She looked at the door just in time to see a redheaded guy walking in with a nice bouquet. She smiled and turned to Hermione.

"Hermione, I think your escort is here."

She jumped up. "George! Oh, they're lovely!"

She took the flowers and took in their scent. She didn't hear the soft click of the office door opening behind her. George kissed her tenderly and watched her eyes shine as she blushed.

"..._George_?" a voice asked with soft surprise.

George looked up and nearly paled.

"...Viv..."

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	13. Of Illnesses and Introductions

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter Thirteen: Of Illnesses and Introductions**

"Vivian...What are _you_ doing here..." he asked slowly.

It was obvious he hadn't been this surprised in a long, long time.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Hermione asked, almost as confused, if not more, as George had just sounded.

"I work here, silly." Vivian said, ignoring Hermione. "And as a matter of fact...I am also the lawyer covering your case!"

"I thought Hoot-" he said.

"But I had to take over now that he's- Well, I just couldn't say no when I read your name in one of the files." she continued enthousiastically.

George smiled and seemed to smirk for a moment. He was about to say something when Hermione coughed softly. He looked at her questioningly, but before she could say anything, Vivian had resumed talking again.

"Why don't you come into my office and we'll discuss that problem of yours right now."

"Actually," Hermione said forcefully, "We've got a previous engagement and we have to hurry."

Vivian blinked. "...'We'? George, you didn't tell me you had a girlfriend. I never would have guessed miss Granger here..."

"George, we need to go now." Hermione said even more forcefully.

This time George understood the hint and quickly glanced at his watch.

"Yes, we do, don't we."

He took Hermione's arm and she quickly picked up the bouquet he had brought along. Vivian watched them go with almost hungry eyes.

So he was taken...By Granger, so that was no problem. It only made it even more interesting for her to have another go at George Weasley.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"You never told me you knew her!" Hermione said, making sure she wasn't sounding jealous.

"Well, I didn't know." he said. "I mean, I didn't recognise her name. She used to be called Vivian Walker, not Kramer..."

She rubbed her arms. "I guess she was married."

She watched the flowers she had set in a vase and sat down on her couch. She had ordered pizza as soon as they had reached her appartement, not feeling up to cooking after this latest developement. George was sitting next to her and he was petting Crookshanks on his lap.

"Is something wrong, Hermione?" he asked finally when she kept silent.

"...No."

"Then why are you so quiet?"

"It's just...I'm a bit surprised...You and her...you were together?"

"Yeah..." he nodded. "But only for a little while. Basically I left her hanging when I quit Hogwarts. I didn't mean to, but Fred and I were so busy with setting up the shop that I forgot about her. Sounds terrible, doesn't it."

Hermione said nothing. George turned to face her.

"Listen, you don't feel awkward about this, do you? Me knowing her, I mean. You don't have to. Viv was just a girl I knew back at school."

"...So was I. And I wasn't even _your_ friend but your little brother's."

He wrapped his arm around her and looked into her eyes sincerely.

"Hermione, it's you I'm in love with. I chose you, didn't I? Viv showing up doesn't change that I wanted you."

She sighed and he detected a small hint of relief on her face.

"So..." he said with a grin. "What was this 'previous engagement' we so anxiously needed to go to."

She laughed and shook her head. "You know there isn't one...I just wanted to get you out of there."

"Aah...a little jealousy!" he said triumphantly. "So the Weasley charm still leaves its mark!"

"Obviously. Just look at Ron."

"What about him?" George asked with a raised eyebrow.

She blushed. "Well...Oh, I promised I wouldn't say...But I suppose if you promise me not to tell...Ron is going out with Tess and somehow she's crazy about him. She talks about him a lot, you know. Just don't say anything to anyone." she pleaded. "Ron would murder me."

He placed his hands in her neck and pulled her head towards him and kissed her.

"Don't worry." he whispered with a smile that could melt her, mind and body. "I like you too much to let Ron murder you."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The judge rested his head against his fingertips for a brief moment. What he had just heard had hit him as a rather big surprise. He looked at the people in the courtroom. The two lawyers sat immovable, the defendant was holding back a smirk as well as he could and the journalists scribbled away furiously.

No one had expected this to be the outcome concerning someone who practically everyone believed to be a Death Eater. The element of murder had certainly been expected to play a part in this. But _this_ had caught everybody by surprise. He looked at the man who had given his statement only just before.

"Are you certain?" the judge asked.

"I am, your honour. Unless mr. Parkinson is carrying it himself, there can be no doubt that Alexander Hoot died of natural causes. There is little hope for those who catch it, because the desease itself is still rather unknown. There has yet to be found a cure. But the deceised's bloodtests clearly show-"

"Very well." the judge interrupted tiredly. "I will order a bloodtest to be performed on mr. Parkinson. The outcome of it will determine his fate in this case."

The people in the courtroom started to whisper when he got to his feet, leaving the room before any riots could start up. He let out a loud sigh and realised that the next morning all this would be in every paper, spreading rumours of Parkinson's innocence.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

George rolled over on his side and watched Hermione. She was asleep and had a cute little frown on her face. He caressed her bare arm and crept his fingers up to her shoulder, halting once he had reached the strap of her nightgown.

She looked so beautiful. Suddenly he realised that there was something knawing in the pit of his stomach. It was a hunger of some sort. But, he told himself sternly, it had still only been a few weeks since things had started up between them and he was sure he was her first serious boyfriend. He knew he wasn't to push her into anything.

On the other hand, he had to admit that feeling this...urge...was a sign that he really had a good feeling about their relationship. If she offered it to him, he'd be a fool to say no.

She turned around in her sleep and her hand came flying towards him. He ducked just in time and grinned. She really did look innocent like this, probably even endearing.

He slipped away from under the sheets and tiptoed into her kitchen to get a glass of water. When he had returned, she had taken up all the space in the bed. He had to sit on the edge, slowly pushing her onto her side so he could fit in next to her. She was heavier than he had expected, but she was easy to shift.

Once he had managed to slip under the sheets again, he curled up against her and wrapped his arm around her waist. He closed his eyes and tried to fall asleep, but it was harder than he thought now that he had gulped down a glass of cold water. Wrinkling his nose when her hair tickled it, he closed his eyes tighter.

When he had almost managed to doze off again, Hermione's body began to shake violently as she started to sneeze and cough uncontrollably. She covered her mouth with her hands, having been woken by her own sneezes.

"I see you're awake." he said with a dry chuckle.

She nodded and stifled another sneeze, causing her eyes to water.

"I know...I'll go see a Healer today." she said with a nasal voice. "You'd better not kiss me till this is over. You might catch it too."

"Hmm, I don't think I'll be able to wait that long." he said with a grin.

Suddenly he swooped down and kissed her so pationately that all she could do was wrap her arms around him so he couldn't pull away. He leaned up just a little bit to look at her.

"See, failed already." he whispered into her ear, sending a pleasant shiver down her spine.

She realised that the feeling of his lips against her ear was perhaps the most pleasant thing she had ever experienced, but she would never admit it, she thought with a blush. He noticed how she held her eyes closed as she savoured the moment and he decided to trail a path of kisses down her neck.

Like before, he found his fingers halt at the feeling of those straps. She still had her eyes closed and held her breath. What would he do? And...what would she let him do?

His hand slowly slid down her arm, taking the strap with it. He kissed her now completely bare shoulder and she had to bite her lip to keep any strange uncontrollable noises from escaping her. George felt there was something inside him burning, like that hungry feeling he'd had before.

All he wondered now was how far Hermione would let him go and slowly he placed his hand onto her stomach and let the fabric crawl up as far as she would let it, revealing bare skin a little more every second. Suddenly she grabbed his hand and stopped him.

"George..." she turned on her side and looked him straight in the eye. "I-"

She didn't know what to say. Every touch made her glow and she wanted more of it. She wanted more of him. But on the other hand, it had only been a few weeks. She had never gone passed kissing before...and she couldn't explain why she felt like it now.

"I've never..." she whispered, casting her eyes down.

He caressed her face. "That's okay. There has to be a first time even for this."

She nodded slowly. "But-"

"I understand that you're nervous...that's normal. So am I." he whispered, his voice sounding deep and strangely tempting.

She felt herself melting away. His hand slid further upwards over the fabric and she took a sharp breath when his hand brushed her breast. George looked at her. The way she was enjoying this moment and dreading it at the same time made him feel even more hungry.

His moral of 'not until she lets me' seemed to melt somewhere in the back of his mind. He kissed her again and let his hand roam more freely over her chest. He could sense that she was fighting to keep herself quiet, as was he himself.

His hand now slipped the strap off her other shoulder and slowly, very slowly, he pulled at the skirt of the offending piece of clothing she had on, eager to see more of her than anybody ever had.

Suddenly her eyes popped open and she grabbed her nightgown just before he could slide it down far enough.

"...I'm not...I don't think we should just yet..." she said, breathing heavily.

Her mind was so confused. She wanted him, even though she wasn't quite sure what that would mean. She wanted him. But in her head she kept telling herself 'not yet' and this was so frustrating that she didn't know what to do. Part of her wanted George to ignore her words.

She sat up quickly, sliding the straps back over her shoulders. She didn't look at him, dreading to see disappointment on his face. He sat up too, trying to cover a very embarassing bulge in his boxers with his hands so she wouldn't notice.

"I'll go take a shower." he said. 'A really _cold_ shower'. he added to himself.

He didn't want Hermione to think he was let down, but the feeling of an anti-climax like this had really hit him hard.

When she heard the door to the bathroom click into its lock, she got to her feet and dressed quickly. Keeping herself busy, she searched for her Andersson, Hoot & Kramer robes.

She halted when she saw the logo. Would they keep 'Hoot' in the company name? Or would it just become 'Andersson & Kramer' now, she found herself wondering.

She walked into her kitchen and layed out some bread on a plate and boiled some water on the stove. While waiting, with a feeling of horror she couldn't explain as anything but fear to have let George down, she looked out the window to see if her owl had come.

Just as she was opening it, the owl flew through. She untied the paper and paid the requiered Knut. Then she sat down and burried herself in the headlines to get her head clear. After one quick look at the news printed, however, she gasped and let it drop to the floor.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Good morning..." a very cheerful voice whispered in his ear.

Ron turned around to see the very pretty girl he had taken out on a date the night before.

"Blimey..." was all he could say.

He couldn't help noticing she was wearing one of his shirts."

"...Did we...?"

She laughed. "If you don't remember, then I suppose it'll be my little secret. It's for me to know..."

She didn't finish her sentence and quickly kissed him on the lips. He grinned and stretched out his arms. A sudden rumble of footsteps on the stairs outside his room wiped his grin away.

"Oh shit..." he muttered. "Quick, under the sheets."

She dove away like he told her to with a big grin. Dating Ronald Weasley never seemed to get boring at this rate. Just as she had disappeared from view, the door opened.

"Ron, you've got some mail from Tutshill. And I really think you should read the Daily Prophet today...There's an article..." she halted.

On the floor there were some pieces of clothing she prayed her son never wore. Then she noticed the bulge behind him in the bed. Her lips faded into a thin line, causing her to look somewhat like an angry McGonagall.

"Ronald Billius Weasley!" she said sternly. "What did I tell you about bringing girls home!"

"...No staying over..." he muttered in an embarassed tone.

Tess found the courage inside her to resurface and composed herself to face mrs. Weasley.

"Good morning, mrs. Weasley..." she said apologetically. "I, er, I'm Tess Farlane..."

Mrs. Weasley nodded her head curtly and turned around. Ron said nothing as the door closed and only when she had heard her footsteps move away did Tess break the silence with a giggle.

"So now you had me meet the family too! Very sneaky."

"I need to find a place of my own..." he sighed loudly. "I need to get away from her."

"At least she brought you your mail. I don't have anyone to do that for me. I think it's sweet." She said as she bent down over his legs to grab the post mrs. Weasley had dropped at the end of the bed.

Suddenly she gasped, causing her to tumble down onto the wooden floor. Once she had managed to scramble up to her knees, she pushed the headline of the Prophet in Ron's face.

"Look at this!" she sqealed.

"Believed Death Eater not guilty." He read slowly.

He took the paper from her hands and read the article out loud_. "Philip Parkinson, whom everyone believes to be a close follower of You Know Who, has been found not-guilty by the judge appointed to the case of mr. Alexander Hoot's death. The coronary report revealed that mr. Hoot had died of a rare virus. There is still a lot unknown about the virus itself, though it is currently believed that it is contagious."_

Tess snatched the article away from him and read on. _"It apparentally attaches itself to red bloodcells in someone's bloodstream and can be passed on genetically or through airways. It causes coughing and sneezing and is often misguidedly treated as 'just a bit of the flu.' Breathing the same air as one contaminated with this illness can mean infectation. The court summons all who might have been infected to see a Healer. Doctors are still trying to find out more about the ilness..."_

She stopped and shook her head unbelievingly.

"A Death Eater off the hook? I've got to tell Hermione..." She shot into her clothes and bent down to give Ron a quick kiss. "Owl me."

He nodded. Tess whipped her wand and disappeard with a 'crack!', but not before wondering if this could have anything to do with Hermione's health lately.

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	14. Look A Like

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter fourteen: Look-A-Like**

George picked up the newspaper and read the article on the front page. Hermione said nothing. When he was done, he pulled up a chair and hugged her.

"That's why you're scared? Because of an article?"

"It's just like they said. Coughing...Sneezing...That day Parkinson came to the office I hid in Hoot's room for a while. I remember thinking he should take up some sickleave because he was coughing so loudly...It's _just_ like in the article!"

She burried her head in his shoulder and started to sob.

"Calm down. We'll go see a Healer today and when we get back you'll know you're as healthy as the next person."

"But what if I'm not?"

"You will be."

"But what if I'm _not_?"

George sighed. "I want you to calm down. First you're going to have some breakfast and then you're going to call the office to say you're ill."

She nodded silently.

A sudden loud crack caused both of them to jump.

"Hermione!" Tess exclaimed. "Did you read-"

"I did." Hermione interrupted.

Tess bit her lip. She could see Hermione had been thinking along the same lines as she had been.

"It might not be what you think it is." she said quickly.

"We'll know soon enough." George said. "I'm taking her to a Healer. Can you cover for her today?"

Tess nodded subdued. "Listen, I've got to go if I'm going to cover for you. Tell me what they said as soon as you get back. I want to know everything."

Tess waited until she had heard Hermione say yes before she said a quick goodbye and disapparated. George looked at Hermione as she took a tiny bite of her toast with difficulty. He found himself wondering what would happen if she really was ill, if she really had been infected with that weird disease. He forced a smile on his face.

"You know what, let me apparate to Fred for a moment. I remember him saying something about the shop. I just need to make sure he can cope, then I'll be back to go with you to the Healer's."

She nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the table. George flicked his wand with one last look at her and then disapparated. He landed in his own bedroom with a thud and stumbled out the door. What if she had been infected? The thought just kept coming back to him.

He headed into the kitchen where he kew he would find Fred on his lunchbreak.

"Fred?" he called as he opened the door. "Fred, I need to talk to you."

Fred's head appeared from behind a newspaper.

"Wow. Didn't think I'd see you here again. Had a fight with Hermione?" he asked casually.

George shook his head. "No, it might be worse...You must've read that thing about Parkinson. And now she thinks she's got the same disease as her old boss did."

Fred lowered his paper slowly. "Does she?"

"I said I'd take her to the Healer's, but...I'm...I'm not sure I can."

"Are you..._scared_?" Fred asked.

George said nothing.

"Well...I suppose I could- No, wait, I've got an appointement. That old girlfriend of yours at Hermione's office wanted to talk about the shop today."

"...I could go instead." George opted quickly.

But Fred shook his head. "You can't do that, George. You've got to take care of Hermione now. She comes before the shop."

George let out a deep sigh. His brother was right.

"Now go on, she needs you. You need to handle this." Fred pointed his wand at his brother.

"Alright, you don't need to hex me."

"Just making sure."

When his brother had disapparated again, Fred shook his head slowly. He was already feeling sorry for Hermione, whether she was ill or not, she wasn't to be envied with a boyfriend who had tried to split at the first sign of trouble.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"I can't really say much about it, miss Granger. This illness is fairly new and we don't know a lot about it yet. I suggest you take some time off work and relax and you'll see it was probably just the flu."

Hermione twisted the tissue she was holding. "I can't take time off, not now! They need as many people as they can get!"

"Suit yourself, miss Granger. All I can do is give you this advice. Should you find yourself to be ill after all, we're already working on a cure."

"Doesn't that take a lot of time?" George asked the Healer.

The elderly man behind the desk shuffled his feet uncomfortably. Normally a remark like this seemed to ease people's minds

"Well...Yes." he answered truthfully. "But we _are_ making progress. Almost the entire St. Mungo's staff is working on it."

He looked at the clock above his office door. It was nearly time for his next appointement. He cleared his throat and looked back at them.

"If you don't have more questions..."

Hermione shook her head slowly and George said nothing.

"Thank you for your time, sir." Hermione said as she got up.

"Remember my advice. Lots of rest and healthy food might clear the whole thing up."

Hermione shook his hand half-heartedly and took George's arm, dragging him into the corridor. They walked towards the entrance hall in silence. Hermione clenched her hands in her pockets and tried very hard not to cry.

She wasn't even sure why she felt this horrible. Was it how the Healer had pushed her aside? Or did she feel this way because George was so uncomfortably quiet? She looked at him and he quickly gave her a smile. He took her hand out of her pocket and squeezed it encouragingly.

"It'll be fine." he said. "You heard what he said. Probably just the flu. You'll be _fine_, Hermione."

She turned her eyes back towards the floor. She wanted nothing more than to believe she was fine. But she felt too horrible and she couldn't say or think of anything that could make her feel better.

"I'll...go to the office, then. If I'm fine." she said for lack of anything to say.

"That's great! That's exactly the atitude you need. Tell you what, I'll drop you off." George said with a smile. "Come here."

He pulled her into a hug. She closed her arms around him and nodded her head against his shoulder.

"Sure..." she whispered.

He winked at her and leaned in for a kiss but then she started to sneeze again. Immediately he pulled his head back and looked away. Hermione bit her lip and started walking.

"Come on." she said quickly. "Tess is waiting for me."

George followed her in silence again. He was sure she was acting strange, but he didn't want to bring it up if she didn't. Once they had reached the office she looked at him uncertainly. He stared back with the same look. Was he going to kiss her goodbye or would he turn his face away, she wondered.

But he did lean in and kissed her tenderly.

"You don't have to worry about _anything_, okay? So don't frown." he said softly. "You look so much prettier when you smile."

She smiled, feeling slightly embarassed.

"What are you going to do today, then?" she asked.

"I'm going to help Fred. Said he had an appointement with Viv. About the shop."

"Oh."

He kissed her again.

"I'll see you tonight?" she asked.

"Of course. Your place or mine?"

"Mine, then. At eight?"

He nodded and, with a wink, turned around. Hermione watched him walk towards the office she disliked so much. Vivian Kramer opened the door as soon as he had knocked, welcoming him inside. Looking past her, Hermione could see Fred sitting at her desk. Vivian allowed George in with a warming smile.

She looked at Hermione over his shoulder and smirked as she closed the door. Hermione gritted her teeth and managed to produce a smile. As soon as the door fell shut, her smile disappeared again. She headed towards her own small desk where she was greeted by a nervous Tess.

"So?" she asked as she fidgeted with her pen.

Hermione shrugged her shoulders.

"Nothing." she said gloomily. "Stupid bloke said it was just the flu."

"He was sure?"

"...Not really. But I felt so stupid. Like I was making a fool of myself."

Tess slammed her pen down on her notebook. "Bloody old codger...Well, at least you know now...almost. Better safe than sorry, right?"

"But I still don't know anything for sure." Hermione whined as she reached for her new mail. "He said I needed to take a lot of rest and all that. But what if he's wrong? There's no antidote yet, no remedy or cure!"

Tess leaned forward on her elbows. "But he's a Healer. A professional. Surely he can tell a rare virus from the flu."

Hermione sighed and opened her first letter. "And then there's George." she added.

Tess raised her eyebrow. "What about him?"

"I don't know...he just acted to distant today. I think he feels really awkward about this situation."

"What, you being ill, you mean?"

She nodded.

"Well, he came with you, he brought you here, didn't he. That shows he cares for you. He made sure you got here safely."

Hermione looked at her letter, not really seeing it.

"Hermione?" Tess asked.

"Well...actually I'm not even sure _that's_ why he came along. Remember when he came to the office the other day? Kramer's apparentally an old girlfriend of his...That's why they know each other. And the reason they broke up was because he forgot to write her after he and Fred had dropped out of Hogwarts."

She kept her voice casual, but this was exactly what was worrying her ever since George had met Vivian the day before.

"...You're scared he'll forget about you the way he forgot about her? But you two _must_ be closer than he ever was with her. He's known you longer than anyone except his family, doesn't he. I can't imagine him preferring a bimbo like 'dear Viv' above you. She's too superficial. If I were to fall down a hole as deep as her, I'd just bump my toe. At least you have depth."

Hermione smiled embarassed. Tess was right. Vivian Kramer had the depth of a Tequilla glass. With a satisfied grin she threw the unread letter in the bin and reached for the next one. She looked up to thank Tess for her kind words, when she saw that Tess' eyes were wide open and a 'I-told-you-so' grin washed over her face.

Hermione stared at her curiously and started when she felt a pair of hands on her shoulders. She looked up and smiled.

"Hey." he said cheerfully.

"Hello to you too." she said happily.

He leaned in and chastely pecked her cheek. Tess laughed.

"You don't have to hold back just 'cause I'm here." she said with a smirk.

To her surprise, both of them started to laugh. Hermione eyed him with a smirk and winked.

"Well, darling? What do you think?"

"I have to say it's very tempting, dear. But it's best if we don't. George wouldn't approve much, I think."

Tess looked at them strangely. "George? But _you_-"

Hermione chuckled loudly. "Tess, I'd like you to meet Fred. George's twin brother."

Tess said nothing for a moment, then she looked at Hermione. "You never told me they looked so much alike! How do you tell them apart?"

Hermione shrugged. "Dunno. Just do."

Fred laughed too. "When you figure out how you do it, can you tell mum? She still gets us mixed up. I swear, if I showed up with you on my arm she'd assume I'm George."

"Sounds interesting...Almost worth a shot!" she exclaimed.

Fred grinned and turned around so she couldn't see his face. "I, er, I've got to go now...Shop's unmanned and all. Can't leave it all up to Verity. Well, I'll see you later. Nice to have met you, Tess. Bye Hermione!"

"Bye Fred. See you later." Hermione said, unable to wipe off the smile she had on her face.

They waved at him as he left. When Hermione turned back, she found herself looking at a very amused Tess.

"What?" she asked alarmed.

Tess shook her head. "You're not all _that_ smart after all, are you?"

Hermione raised her eyebrow.

"Thanks." she said bemused. "And what do I owe that to?"

Tess just shook her head with a vague smile and said nothing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	15. Misguided Kissing

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter fifteen: Misguided Kissing**

Vivian curled her painted lips into a small smile and leaned forward on her desk.

"So now that Fredricks' gone...We can have a little chat about something else than the shop."

George leaned back in his chair and looked at her amused. "Yeah...I've been wondering...How did you get that last name of yours. I didn't know _you_ were the boss Hermione always talks about. She called you Kramer. I think I prefer Walker, though."

She leaned back too. "Oh, _that_. I got married. To that Hufflepuff who always hung around me. He muscled his way into being my boyfriend rather quick when you and Fred had fled the castle. And seeing as how I didn't have anything else to do when I graduated, I said yes when he asked me to marry him."

"So you're a maried woman now. Never had you down for the homely type."

She grinned toothily. "I found that out too, half a year later. And so did he. I decided I wanted a job and he didn't aprove. Then I said it was either a job or a divorce and I ended up getting both."

George looked at the photograph on her desk. "Kept his picture, though?"

"No, that's my dad. I thought he'd be proud of me, working as a fulltime partner at a lawfirm. But...staying on the track of lovelives...How did you and Gra- I mean Hermione end up dating."

She leaned forward immediately, giving him a clear view of her cleavage. George noticed but said nothing, only an amused look crossing his face gave it away.

"She's my little brother's best friend. I got used to having her around and talking to her. Then one thing led to another and here we are."

"Really..." she said, almost with a purr.

"Surprised?"

"A little." she admitted. "She doesnt strike me as your type."

She flicked her hair over her shoulder casually.

"Doesn't she...seem a little...dull? So...bookish."

Now George laughed, thinking of all the trouble Hermione had gotten herself in to, helping Ron and Harry all those years at school.

"Dull? Hardly." he grinned.

But Vivian ignored it. She stood up and walked around the desk so she could seat herself on the surface, facing George. He couldn't help noticing that she was wearing a _very_ short skirt.

"Say, Viv...I think it's time for me to go. I can't let Fred on his own too long, for all I know he could be out buying a new building."

Vivian laughed loudly, almost cackling. She slid off her desk and opened her arms.

"Very well." she said. "But you can't leave without giving me a hug. After all, it's been _so_ long since we saw each other last."

She gave him a seductive smile. George could only give in and so hugged her, wrapping his arms around her. She held on to him tight, letting her hand wander down to the small of his back. Quickly George disentangled himself and nodded at her curtly.

"I suppose I'll see you again soon." he said.

She nodded. "You bet. I'm looking forward to working on this case with you."

George turned around and left hastily. He walked over to Hermione and planted a big kiss on her cheek.

"I'm done here. Want me to wait for you?"

She shook her head. "Don't you need to help Fred at the Jokeshop? He looked a little bit stressed when he walked out of here. What kept you anyway?"

"Oh..." he said vaguely. "She needed me to sign something. Fred already had."

"Oh."

"But you're right. I'll see you tonight."

"See you later then."

He pecked her cheek and hurried out the building. Hermione looked at the office he had just left. Vivian stood in front of the window and smirked at her. She raised her hand and waved at Hermione with a laugh.

"She's getting off on this, isn't she." Hermione remarked dryly.

Tess shrugged. "You know what she's like. She slept her way up the company ladder and now that she doesn't _need_ Andersson anymore, he's boring her. She just needs to flirt with someone."

"Well she'd better not be trying anything with George!" Hermione said indignantly.

"And what about Fred?" Tess asked slowly.

Hermione raised her eyebrow. "What about him?"

"Would you mind if she tried anything on him?"

"...Don't know. Why would I care? Anyway, I'm sure Fred's not that susceptible to her 'charms'. George I'm not so sure about. You know he's been acting strange lately...But what do you care about Fred? You're dating Ron, aren't you?"

Tess grinned. "As a matter of fact I am. Tonight to be exact. But you're trying to change the subject. Have...You and George...have you, you know...slept together yet?"

"No!" Hermione said even more indignantly. "Of course we haven't! I don't know if it would be a great idea if we did...We were very close to it once, though...But I don't think I should...just yet."

"Did you ever think George might be wanting a bit more than a kiss every now and then? He's older than you are, Hermione. And he's a guy. Older guys can't always control those things called hormones."

"But that doesn't mean I should throw myself at him!"

Tess shook her head. "No, I know that. But don't you agree you'd rather have it be you he ends up in bed with, and not Vivian?"

Hermione bit down on the end of her pencil and looked at the office again.

"...I..."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"You took your time." Fred said calmly when he finally saw his brother walk through the door.

"Viv and I had some talking to do." George answered casually.

Fred laughed haughtily. "Don't let Hermione hear you say that, she might not like it very much."

"She doesn't have to know, it doesn't concern her."

"Whatever. Vivian looked good, though. A real beauty nowadays. Better than what she used to look like. Too bad she's not my type."

"Well not a lot of girls _are_ your type, are they. They're not inflatable."

Fred sighed. Sometimes he wondered if his brother really understood anything. Surely someone should have noticed by now that he- No, he wasn't going to think about it. It was bad enough as it was. Though that other girl at the office had seemed to understand it...Maybe he should...

"Say George, that girl Hermione works with..."

"Tess?"

"That's the one. Are she and Hermione good friends?"

George looked up from the mail he was trying to open. "Why? Want Hermione to set you up with her?"

"No, I-"

"I'll ask her. You sly old dog, you. And there I was thinking you had your eye on Verity."

"Never." Fred said decisively. "She's our employee. And just a nice girl."

He didn't need to tell George the reason why he wanted to talk to Tess. He shrugged his shoulders and straightened a pile of purple cardboard boxes.

"So when's your next meeting with Vivian?" Fred asked.

George walked over to the pay-desk and started counting the money in the till. "Didn't set a date yet."

"Oh, well she said she wanted to take good care of us so she's going to be all over this case. She talked about setting up a meeting between us and Zonko, lawyers included of course."

George nodded pensively. "Sounds interesting. I'll bet it'll do us good. It will certainly help the shop."

"Talking of which...Don't you think it's time we open up? It's really late."

George nodded and looked out the window. "Why not. Time's money, after all. And it does seem like time has been good to us."

Fred grinned, casting a look at his new dragon leather boots. With a flick of his wand, he changed the sign on the door and walked into the backroom to get some more Muggle magic tricks.

The light in the room didn't work when he flipped the switch. With a slighly annoyed sigh he reached for his wand again.

"Lumos." he whispered.

A soft glow emanated from the tip of his wand, giving him just enough light to read the lables on the stacks and piles in the storage cupboards. He traced the sides of the boxes with his indexfinger, searching for the right set of boxes.

A soft 'crack' behind him made him snap around.

"Hey you..." she said softly.

He used his wand to bring some light to her face.

"Oh, hey Hermione." he said, slightly surprised. "Aren't you supposed to be at the office?"

"I snuck out." she said with a giggle.

She advanced on him until she was very close, placed her hands behind her back and then stood on tiptoe so she could kiss him. He was so surprised to feel her lips touch his that he didn't respond at all. Once he finally realised what was happening, he grabbed her shoulders and pushed her back.

She looked at him with uncertainty.

"As much as I like you, Hermione, You've got the wrong twin."

She stepped back, blushing madly, and clasped her hand to her mouth.

"Oh my god...Fred, I'm _so_ embarassed."

She turned around, wanting nothing more than to disappear into thin air. Fred chuckled uncomfortably.

"Well, er...it _is_ a bit embarassing, yes. After you saying you could tell us apart so well."

She turned back again.

"Well, the two of you _do_ look a like a lot." she said dismissively.

"So, er...what are you doing here? Sneaking off is not like the Hermione I remember from school."

"I- I wanted to surprise George...Tess said it would be a good idea..."

"Oh. Well George is in the shop. If you want to see him, you should go inside."

She nodded her head. "Thank you. I will. Oh...Fred, can we keep this...mistake to ourselves? I don't think George would find it very funny."

She smiled apologetically. Fred felt his head nod slowly.

"Of course. I won't tell him."

"Thank you." she whispered before she left the storageroom.

Once the door had fallen shut behind her, he softly touched his lips. They burned as if he could still feel those lips against his own. He savoured the feeling and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the feeling had gone.

He shook his head fiercely and leaned against the wall.

'Don't allow this to happen.' he told himself harshly.

But good resolutions could only get him so far. And she wasn't making this easy on him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	16. Confusion by Temptation

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter sixteen: Confusion by Temptation**

"You did _what?_" Tess exclaimed.

"Shh!" Hermione hissed.

She quickly cast a nervous look around to see if anyone had heard them.

"But..." Tess stammered. "I don't see...Did you really?"

"Yes." Hermione said quietly. "But I didn't mean to! I thought I'd follow your advice to be more spontaneous, you know. To surprise him...catch him off guard...Get him interested solely in me."

"And you thought kissing his brother would help you out?"

Hermione leaned her head in her hands with a worried frown. "I didn't mean to kiss Fred. It was George I was after."

"No, really?" Tess said sarcastically.

She leaned forward across the table and planted her elbows between their lunch plates.

"Listen, surprising him at work is a nice idea...but not for what you have in mind. It'll increase his affection for you, but it's stands no chance against Vivian's hips of fury. We've both seen her sway her way into sweet deals by batting her eyelashes and pouting her lips. Men find almost everything about her sexy, nothing can be done about that. She's what all of them want subconciously."

Hermione sighed. "But I'm not like that woman-"

"-Cow."

"Cow." Hermione agreed. "If a sway of hips is all that can catch his eye then I don't stand a chance against her."

She folded her napkin and tossed it onto her now empty plate. Tess leaned back in her chair pensively.

"So you didn't want to go all the way yet. That doesn't mean there isn't a grey area in between. It's not an all-or-nothing thing. Tease him, be playful. Like Vivian! I'm sure it'll do the trick."

Hermione's face contracted into another frown. Strange and very disturbing images floated before her eyes for a second or two. She shuddered quickly and concentrated her mind on what she had been eating for lunch.

Tess watched her. Then she casually reached out for her tea and took a sip.

"So how did it feel?" she asked in an equally casual tone.

Hermione's head snapped up. "What do you mean? I didn't do anything yet!"

"No...I meant the kiss."

"...Oh..." A blush crept to Hermione's cheeks. "You meant that. I...don't know, I didn't really pay attention. Just like any other kiss would feel like."

"No..." Tess said slowly. "What did it do to you. How did it make you feel?"

"Not any different than any other kiss." Hermione said defensively.

Tess laughed haughtily. "So a kiss from Freddie makes you tingle and feel warm inside like any other kiss from George?"

"Look! I didn't pay much attention to it! I thought I was kissing George, otherwise I wouldn't have- Can't we talk about something else? _Please._"

She pushed her plate away and looked out the window. Tess looked out the window too.

"You know...the weather's looking better. With a little bit of luck we'll have a bit of spring soon. How about we go shopping for some summerclothes one of these days."

Hermione allowed herself to smile again. "Sounds good. But I'll have to get back to you on that. I've got a meeting with my mentor today. She thinks I don't spend enough time studying and too much time on my internship. She thinks I'm not going to get through my midterms at the end of the year."

"Nice." Tess remarked. "Now there's a mentor for you. Always knows what to say to cheer you up."

Hermione grinned. "Well, gotta run. That woman doesn't want to be kept waiting."

She stood up and gathered her things into her bag.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

She left the cafeteria and cast a look into the hall to her left. She could see a redhead enter Vivian's office just as she was about to leave through the door. She stopped for a moment and watched both of them smile and kiss each other's cheeks.

A strange feeling in the pit of her stomach grumbled, but she ignored it. She watched as he went inside and saw how Vivian Kramer performed what Tess liked to call the 'Kramer Leviosa.' A completely other kind of swish-and-flick than what you learned in school; it was Vivian Kramer's trademark to swish her hips sideways followed by a flicking her hair over her shoulder coyly.

"Hips of fury, yeah right." she muttered as she walked on, pushing back a loud string of coughs.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Well, well! Never expected to see you again so soon."

"There are a lot of things that need to be discussed. A lot has to be taken care of."

She grinned and curled her lips.

"Really..." she said slowly.

He smirked and shook his head. "I meant about the shop, Viv."

"But George," she pouted, "we've had so little time to talk. I was shattered after you left Hogwarts and you never wrote to me. You at least owe me an explanation or an apology."

He sat down and looked at her amused. "I never would have expected you to be so put down about that. You never seemed to care about anything back at school."

She sat down on the surface of her desk and dangled her long legs playfully as she straightened her skirt.

"I cared about you." she said slowly. "But teachers never seemed important, no."

George said nothing and eyed her face.

"But still...I guess I wasn't surprised when I never heard from you again. You never had much time for me anyway. You were always busy with your pranks or Quidditch. Are you still too busy for your girlfriends? Doesn't Gra-, Hermione mind?"

George stood up, walked towards her and leaned his hands on either side of her on the desk.

"Well..." he said softly. "I've never heard any complaints."

She grinned and sat up a little straighter. "How _are_ the two of you doing. Have you...plucked her yet?"

"_Viv_...That's not very decent to ask."

She sat up even straighter, bringing her face just another little bit closer to his. "But have you? I don't think you have, personally. You seem a little tense...too tense for someone who...Must be frustrating, I suppose."

She smiled playfully and pouted her lips again. The way she was holding her shoulders, her blouse was no longer clinging to her chest as it had done before, and he suddenly had a very clear view of what lay beneath the fabric.

She winked innocently.

He lifted one hand from the table and brought it up to the side of her face. She expected to feel his fingers on her skin and closed her eyes, waiting patiently. But his hand travelled down to the neck of her blouse.

She opened her eyes again and for a moment she thought he was going to rip it open. But instead he buttoned it up all the way to the top.

"You want to look a bit more decent as a lawyer, Viv." he said coyly. "Don't go giving clients the wrong idea."

Vivian, slightly put off, settled for another flirtatious smile. "Whatever do you mean? Anyway, I'm sure Hermione won't _ever_ give you the wrong idea. I can tell she's a prude. And _so_ young. How you manage to hold out with her is a mystery to me."

George pulled away from Vivian forcefully.

"It's not really your business, though." he said, reaching for his jacket. "I guess I'll just take those papers you promised us and take them back to the shop."

"You're leaving already?" she said disappointed.

"Must dash. Can't leave Fred alone for too long."

She handed him a brown envelope in which she had put the papers Zonko's lawyers had sent over.

"I think it's better...if you handle most of this problem with Fred from now on...He's better at it than I am. He's more organised than me."

Vivian licked her lips disappointedly. "Oh."

He nodded and walked towards the door.

"Wait! At least one last hug? You can't deny me a hug."

He seemed to ponder it for a moment, but walked back over to her to wrap his arms around her. She lifted her head a bit and brushed his cheek with her lips. Before he had registered what was happening, she kissed his ear softly, tantalisingly.

He stepped back hastily and disappeared through the door. Vivian watched him hurry out the office with a big smirk on her face. He might have darted for the exit to try and hide it, but she had immediately noticed something nudging her inner thigh.

"Well well, George..." she muttered amused. "Was that your wand in your pocket? Or were you just _very_ happy to see me..."

She giggled and closed her office door. Men were just too easy to manipulate sometimes.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

George opened the door to Hermione's appartement. He felt confused and very warm. Vivian had thrown almost everything she had at him...He knew that very well. And he knew she had done this on purpose too.

He threw off his jacket and his magenta robes and loosened the top button of his shirt before he had even noticed Crookshanks circling around his feet.

"Busy day?" Hermione's voice sounded from the bedroom.

He went inside and saw her putting clean sheets on the bed. She smiled at him. He smiled back and suddenly had the urge to kiss her and maybe do a whole lot more. He lunged forward and pulled her into a pationate kiss. Completely caught by surprise, she closed her arms around him and let that wonderful warm feeling wash over her.

He managed to get her down on the bed, somehow, and brushed her neck with his lips. She felt him start to unbutton her blouse, and she ignored the hesitant feeling inside her when his hand softly started to caress her now exposed skin.

He looked at her, taking in the confused look on her face and then leaned his head down to nip her skin here and there. She clasped her arms around him, not wanting him to pull away. Her mind told her it wasn't one of the smartest things to do, but listening to her mind was rather difficult when her body seemed to have taken control of itself.

Her fingers started to wrestle with his shirt and after a few seconds of tangled up limbs, it was cast aside. He looked in her eyes to find a hunger in them that matched his own. He couldn't help grinding his hips down against hers, only once, and then he pressed his face to her cheek, causing his lips to brush her ear.

"I want you." he whispered.

Her eyes opened wide. Suddenly her mind seemed to work on overtime.

"George..." she said hoarsley.

He tried to silence her by kissing her again so pationately that her head started to spin all over again and all she could do was kiss him back with equal force and enthousiasm. His hands now pulled her already opened blouse off her shoulders and turned her around so he could unclasp her bra.

Suddenly she gasped and sat up straight, causing him to lose his balance. He hung his head and breathed deeply.

"We shouldn't, should we." he said when he had regained a more calm breathing rythm.

She said nothing and looked at the wall so she wouldn't have to look into his eyes. Without saying anything he slowly slid off the bed and headed into the bathroom for what Hermione knew would be a very, _very_ cold shower.

Once the door had closed behind him, she fell back on the bed and looked at the ceiling.

"...Why did I...Why didn't I just..." she said to herself confusedly.

She sat up again quickly, her mind suddenly set on what she needed and wanted to do. She would rush into the bathroom and try to persuade him to come back out... She would just go with it, because she knew she wanted it just as badly as he did.

She crossed the room as quick as she could and reached for the doorknob. Just as she was about to open the door, she felt a sneeze creeping up on her. She let the doorknob go as she was caught in an unstoppable string of sneezes and sank to her knees before she would fall. She was shaking so badly that she couldn't stand on her legs anymore.

Before she could repress it, she began to cough too. She was coughing so hard that it started to hurt her throat, but she couldn't stop it. A tear started to burn in the corner of her eye as she kept trying to control the sneezes and the coughs.

It was making her dizzy and the pain in her throat only got worse. She could hear the bathroom door open and George seemed to be kneeling beside her. He placed a hand on her shoulder and said her name.

She turned her head, but the pain was too much. Suddenly everything before her eyes went white as she fell backwards onto the floor before her body finally came to a rest.

* * *

* * *


	17. Sickleave

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter seventeen: Sickleave**

"Hermione?"

She moaned. Everything seemed to be dark around her. And what scared her most was that she was having difficulty breathing properly. What was going on?

"Hermione?"

Who was that calling her?

"If you can hear me, open your eyes please."

So that was why it was so dark. Slowly and with a little difficulty she opened her eyes. The light around her was bright, but she couldn't see properly. As if everything was out of focus.

She opened her dry mouth, licked her chipped lips and said: "Why can't I see?"

Her vision remained blurred no matter how many times she blinked and it frightened her.

"You have an eyeinfection. Nothing too serious. It'll be cured in no time. How are you feeling?"

"...Weird..." she replied. "Where am I?"

"In the hospital, dear. I'm mrs. Medlycott, your nurse. You're in good hands so don't you worry. And there's a visitor here for you too."

The vague blurr that had been mrs. Medlycott moved away and was replaced by another blurry figure, this one with red hair.

"George?" she asked.

"Hole in one." he said with a smile. "You really scared me yesterday."

He sat down on the edge of her bed and took her hand. She sat up and leaned on her elbows. With one hand she wanted to rub her face, but her hand collided with a piece of soft cardboard.

"Am I...wearing a face mask?" she asked confused.

George nodded. "Yes, one around your nose and mouth. It's a precaution..."

"Precaution for what? What happened?"

"Well..." George said hesitantly. "You fainted last night. I didn't know what to do so I took you here. I told them about you coughing and everything and then they started shouting about that illness Hoot had. Apparently you do have it too...like you thought...The mask it for the nurses' safety."

"And what about my eyes?" she asked, even though talking hurt.

Her throat was still sore and every word she uttered was painful.

"It's a bit disgusting, really. But they reckon that a bit of infected slime from your nose ended up in your eyes when you were thrashing about last night. But it's only a light infection, it'll be gone in no time, the nurse said."

Hermione nodded subdued and lapsed into another fit of coughs without warning. Tears of pain rolled down her cheeks. George looked at her hesitantly and slowly reached for a red glass bottle on her bedside table.

He unscrewed the top and poured the thick golden liquid into a goblet.

"Here. This is a honey drink for your throat. It'll make you feel better."

He handed her the goblet and she lifted up her mask in order to put the goblet to her lips. George backed away and averted his face almost instantly. She frowned as the drink slowly went down her throat like thick treacle. She had a sweet tooth, she knew, but this was too sugary even for her.

She handed the goblet back and slid the mask back on and then laid down on her back so she could stare at the white ceiling, trying to ignore the fact that George had seemed to hold his breath since she had taken the mask off. The ceiling she was looking at seemed to be the only thing in focus because it was just a big empty, white space.

"When will I be able to go home? I've got midterms to study for and my internship-"

"You're on sickleave for the moment. The Healers say they can't be sure when you can go home."

"Oh..." she turned her head towards the blurr that appeared to be George. "Are you going to stay for a little while?"

"Well..." he said hesitantly. "I've got to go, actually. Fred's launching a new product in the Skiving Snackbox line. Brainbuster Bubblegum. I need to be there. And one of us needs to guard the shop when the other goes to Andersson, Hoot & Kramer..."

"Oh...I, I saw one of you talk to Vivian yesterday..." Hermione said slowly, not able to block out that vision of Vivian swishing and flicking her Kramer Leviosa all over the place. "Is everything going alright?"

"Oh...that...That was Fred. Vivian gave him the papers Zonko sent over for us. Apparentally they want a settlement now."

"That's great!" Hermione said excitedly, leaning up on her elbows again.

"Yeah, it is. We're almost there! If it hadn't been for you and Viv we would probably be paying Zonko for our own ideas right now!"

She reached for his hand and directed her eyes at the ceiling again. "That's wonderful."

"I've got to go now. It's nearly ten o' clock and Fred-"

"Of course. You should go. Good luck."

He smiled and leaned forward so she could see his face. "Thank you. I'll be back after the shop closes."

He leaned in and, after what seemed to be a moment of hesitation, placed a soft and tender kiss on her forehead.

"I've asked the nurse to place a radio in your room so you can listen to some music, because you can't read with your eyes and all."

He kissed her forehead again and then stood up. He waved at her from the door, but all she could see was a vague blurr that disappeared after a moment. She let out a loud sigh.

Hermione turned on her side after a few minutes and reached for what appeared to be the radio and switched the buttons she had her hands on until it produced some sound. Unfortunately the only channel it seemed to be able to pick up was a music channel dedicated to Celestina Warbeck, mrs. Weasley's favourite singer.

Hermione groaned and rolled back onto her back, rather having this rubbish on than having to listen to the humming silence that seemed to fill her room. A cheerfully humming blurr walked into her room suddenly and bustled around before heading to the bed.

"Hello mrs. Medlycott." she croaked.

"Oh, hello again dear. I see you're a fan of Celestina as well? Oh, I can never get enough of her."

Hermione smiled painfully and said nothing. Mrs. Medlycott seemed to be busy with the glass bottle and goblet George had handed her earlier.

"I've got two things for you. One for your sore throat..."

'Oh jolly.' Hermione thought tiredly, shuddering at the thought of that same thick sweet liquid.

"And one for those eyes of yours." Mrs. Medlycott continued.

This cheered Hermione up slightly and she sat up immediately.

"Open your eyes, then. I'm just going to squeeze some of this ointment into your eyes. Won't hurt a bit, just a bit awkward the first time."

Hermione eagerly opened her eyes as wide as she could and allowed the still humming mrs. Medlycott to get on with her job.

"There we are!" the nurse handed her the goblet and, grudgingly, Hermione swallowed it.

Once mrs. Medlycott had left, Hermione sat up, letting her feet dangle above the cold linoleum floor. Then she leaned sidewas and fell back with her head into her pillow out of boredom. According to the radio it was only half past ten.

'Still seven hours on my own to go at least.' she thought dully just before she fell asleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"So how did it go?" Fred asked through his fixed smile when George apparated behind him.

"She'll be fine. She's got nurses looking after her." George replied as he fixed a similar smile on his own face.

Outside the shop, a large crowd of schoolkids with some hesitant parents had formed, waiting for the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes shop to open. Verity handed George his shoprobes and walked over to the door.

She looked at her bosses before, finally, unlocking the doors to let in a sea of customers.

"Welcome, welcome!" George bellowed. "Get your Pygmy Puffs, your lovepotions and your magical quills!"

"Muggle jokes! Vanishing accesoires and, most especially, the New and Improved...SKIVING SNACKBOXES!" Fred continued. "No Puking Pastille was ever this potent!"

"No one can do without the Brainbuster Bubblegum! Be a genious for a day!"

"_Just keep chewing and your test's a shoe-in!"_

Fred looked at George, who was being run down by eager thirteen-year olds. He was so busy smiling and selling that he didn't seem worried at all. Fred looked away and helped a young girl by picking her up as she reached for a lovepotion on a shelf that was too high.

"Careful how you use those." he said with a kind smile.

She nodded fervently and stared at a boy her age across the room, who seemed to be too interested in some Fainting Fancies to be thinking about girls. Fred chuckled as she skipped away to the till, where Verity could hardly manage to keep up with the flow of customers.

The bell above the door chimed as it opened and closed every two seconds.

"Well, well." said a female voice into his ear, temptingly. "So _this_ is the shop we've been fighting for."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	18. Replacement

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter eighteen: Replacement**

Fred turned around.

"Vivian! What a suprise...You _do_ know I'm Fred, right?" he said, trying not to roll with his eyes.

If there was one person that annoyed him most in this world, it was her. And she had _dated_ George, he'd have thought at least _she_ could have told them apart. She composed herself quickly and tried to act like she hadn't been whispering in his ear at all.

"Of course I do." she scoffed. "What, you thought that I didn't? I'm disapointed at you, Fred."

"Well anyway, it's good to see you. Curious to see what that little shop was like? Probably a bit bigger than you had expected." he said with a smile.

She shook her head with a laugh. "Are you kidding? Nothing the two of you ever do is small. It could only be a big place like this. You're probably richer than Zonko, no wonder he wants a settlement."

Fred looked around the shop with a satisfied smirk.

"Oh, where's George? I need to speak to him."

"...He's overthere..." Fred said slowly.

Vivian brushed past him immediately, glad to get away from this 'oaf' as she sometimes liked to call him quietly, and pushed her way through the crowd. She placed her hands on his shoulders and leaned towards his ear.

"Hello George." she whispered with a smile.

She let her hands glide over his back as she walked around him.

"Still tense, I see."

George said nothing. Vivian took his hand and pulled him away from the crowd towards one of the back shelves.

"So still not gotten what you need, huh."

"I _can_ do without, you know. I'm not a nymphomaniac."

She batted her eyes prettily.

"Really?" she leaned in and softly blew on his ear.

He bit his lip and grabbed her shoulders in order to push her away. But before he could, she had pressed herself against him.

"Why, George! Put that thing away, there are kids around." she joked when she felt something nudging her thigh.

She looked into his eyes and licked her lips seductively. Then she slowly backed into the storage room behind her and blew him a kiss.

Fred watched from a distance, his face slowly contracting into an angry frown. George looked around but didn't notice his brother staring at him and then, with a confused look on his face, slowly followed Vivian inside.

Fred tightened his hands into fists and stormed towards the door. But as he was about to open it, he decided against it. He turned around and marched towards the shop's main door.

"Verity! I've got to pop out for a second!"

"Right you are, mr. Weasley."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Hermione opened her eyes. The radio was still playing Celestina Warbeck, but mrs. Medlycott had turned it down a little. She raised her hand to her eyes and touched the skin around them.

She lifted a small mirror up close to her face so she could see it in focus. There were small bits of greenish slime stuck to her eyelashes and that stuff also almost glued her eyes together when she closed them for a minute.

Her eyes were puffy and red and the veins in them practically glowed. With a sigh she put the mirror down and stared at the ceiling.

"Hey..."

She sat up, leaning on her elbows so she could see who had come in; a figure with red hair.

"George?"

"...How are you feeling?" he said cheerfully after having hesitated for a moment.

"Bored." she said truthfully. "All I can do is sleep and listen to horrible music. My eyes are still sore as you can see. And I can't see a bloody thing."

"Oh- oh yeah..."

"How did things go at the shop today?"

He walked forward, still somewhat hesitant, and sat down on her bed. "Oh, everything's just fine. The new line of skiving snackboxes is going great. They love our Brainbuster Bubblegum. 'Just keep chewing and your test's a shoe-in'. That's our slogan. Sells like crazy."

"Well what did you expect with those end of term exams nearing on the horison." she said with a giggle.

He smiled. "Oh, I almost forgot. I got you some flowers!"

He produced a bundle of colourful tulips, lilies and other flowers from below the edge of the bed.

"Oh, George! They're lovely!" she said, examining them up close.

She placed them on the bedside table and took his hand.

"Thank you."

"No problem. You deserve them."

She sat up and closed her arms around his neck.

"You know..." she said. "The doctors confirmed that this illness can't be transferred om by a human...It'll be all over the news tomorrow, but apparentally it was Hoot's budgie that gave it to me and Hoot...Like that muggle bird flu. So...there's no danger anymore..." she smiled at him. "No more facemask for me..."

She pulled him closer and kissed him. At first he didn't react but then he closed his arms around her, holding her close to him. It might have been that she'd had nothing to do and no one to talk to all day, but that kiss was the most wonderful kiss she had ever experienced.

It felt perfect. It filled her up with warmth and she never wanted it to end. Apparentally he didn't want it to end either, because he held onto her tightly. She opened her eyes and looked at him. He still had his eyes closed, as if he was completely absorbed in the kiss.

When she pulled away slowly, he still kept his eyes shut as if he was trying to savour the feeling of the kiss, as if he was trying to store it in his mind. She giggled and caressed his face. He finally opened his eyes and looked at her with an almost guilty expression. Quickly he ran his hand through his hair and looked away.

"I...er..."

She smiled and took his hand. "What?"

"N- nothing. That was...incredible..."

She giggled when she saw his face turn a light shade of pink. He grinned apologetically. Then she moved her face close to his again and whispered: "Yes it was."

He rushed forward again to kiss her, unable to restrain himself. She sighed into the kiss, surprised that this one felt just as perfect as the last one had.

"Oh George..." she sighed happily.

Suddenly he stood up.

"I've got to go." he said confused. "The shop-"

She looked at him, startled by his sudden change of mood.

"I'll...I'll come by again...Tomorrow. Bye!"

And before she could reply he had vanished. Hermione sighed again. At least now she had something to occupy her mind with...but she would have preferred it if he had stayed.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Damn." he said angrily through his gritted teeth.

Unable to control himself, he kicked a dustbin as he passed by. He should never have gone to visit her. What had he been thinking? He stuffed his hands into his pockets forcefully and walked towards the staircase.

He would have to tell her. He couldn't keep this from her. What if she mentioned it to George! He halted.

"Shit."

He hadn't even started to think about George. He'd have to tell him, then...if he couldn't tell Hermione. But what then? He'd probably get into a fistfight with him if he told George the truth, and Hermione, the innocent one, would pay the price.

But if he told Hermione instead, she'd no longer be innocent because she'd know the truth too and George would think it was a plot against him.

Fred sighed and ran another hand through his hair.

"Hm..." he snorted almost vindictively. "George...He almost deserves this..."

He recalled the image of George, following Vivian into the storage room. He tried to hear the smooching noises he had heared, just so he could stop feeling guilty. It didn't work, though.

He had kissed his brother's girlfriend, even though he had fought against any feelings he'd had for her all this time. And now, because he had been stupid enough to go visit her, to replace George this once, because of one misunderstanding, he had unleashed a flood of emotions inside him he couldn't possibly ignore.

He had felt so jealous of George, but never admitted it. The only one who might have had a slight suspicion was Tess, and he had only seen that girl once. Suddenly his face brightened.

"Tess..."

That was the one he needed to see. She would probably have a good idea. And she was also the only one he could entrust this secret too, without running too big a risk. All he had to do was go to the office.

"Yes, I'll do that. Straight away tomorrow."

Feeling slightly better, he apparated home. By now the shop was empty again. Verity looked terribly tired, but she greeted him cheerfully nonetheless.

"Hello mr. Weasley. Quite the busy day. Business went excelent today."

He greeted back vaguely. "That's good to hear. Sorry to leave you on your own. Had some...urgent things to take care of. Have you seen my brother?"

Verity nodded and pointed at the door that led up to their appartement.

"You can go home now, Verity. I'll lock up. See you tomorrow."

"Right you are, mr. Weasley. See you tomorrow."

Fred turned the key in the lock once he had closed the door behind her. Then, with great reluctance, he headed up the stairs. He found George's shop robes in a pile on the floor somewhere along the hall.

The door to his room was opened slightly, a small beam of light pouring out into the corridor.

'He'd better be alone in there...' Fred thought angrily.

He pushed the door open viciously, but there was no one inside. The sheets of the bed were a mess, but that meant nothing. George almost never made his bed.

He turned around and headed towards their kitchen. There he found George, sitting at the table with a cup of coffee in his hands and an empty pizzabox in front of him.

He didn't look up. "Oh, hey Fred."

Fred said nothing as he sat down at the table. He avoided looking his brother in the eye. What was he to do? He needed to tell _someone_...It only seemed right to tell George. He let out a loud sigh.

"George..."

"What?"

Fred looked up to meet his brother's face, determined to have his say, to say that he had kissed Hermione and that he cared for her more than he could describe, that he had felt that way for a very long time...That he had never let on for _their_ sake.

But when he looked up to look George straight in the eye, a disgusted frown formed on his face. He stood up roughly and turned around. George stared at him strangely.

"What-?"

"Clean yourself up, for Merlin's sake. You've got lipstick on your face." Fred snapped just before he stormed off to his bedroom to lock himself in.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	19. Jealousy is Never Pretty

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter nineteen: Jealousy is Never Pretty**

George brought his hand up to his mouth slowly. He grabbed a spoon and tried to see himself in it.

'Damn.'

He had red stains around his mouth. He jumped over his chair towards the sink and quickly washed the lipstick away with some water.

"Shit...shit, shit!" he muttered to himself.

He dried his face with a towel and leaned against the kitchen cupboards. He threw the towel onto the table and headed towards Fred's room. There he knocked on the door hesitantly.

"Fred...Listen..."

"I'm not interested. Why should I care? It's not me you're cheating on." Fred's muffled voice sounded from within.

"But I want to explain." George said confused. "I didn't cheat on her, not really. It was just a kiss! Nothing else happened!"

"Yeah sure." Fred muttered to himself, suddenly feeling the vindictive urge to tell the truth. "So if I told you Hermione and I had kissed, it wouldn't have been cheating on you either?" he yelled.

George said nothing at first, but then he started to laugh.

"Like that's ever going to happen," he said merrily. "But nothing wrong happened between me and Viv."

Fred shook his head. He felt so angry George would never believe him and saying the truth had no meaning here.

"Whatever. But shouldn't you be looking after Hermione? She needs you more than Vivian does." Fred said, feeling satisfied that he had at least guilt-tripped George with those last words.

George turned around, running a hand through his hair. He turned around and went to his own room.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"No mail, mrs. Medlycott?" Hermione asked hopefully.

"Oh, why yes dear. Two cards for you, actually."

Eagerly Hermione accepted the two envelopes. One was from Ginny and Ron, the other came from Tess. With a light smile she set them on either side of the vase on her bedside table, which was now void of the radio.

With an even more satisfied smile she looked at the flowers in the vase. They were so beautiful. Every time she looked at them she felt warm and happy inside.

Her vision had grown slightly better, but still she didn't see everything in focus. She stretched out on the bed and closed her eyes, remembering the day before. Her daydream came to an abrupt end when someone knocked on the door.

"Yes?"

"I've got a delivery for you, miss Granger." said a short young kid with a red baseball cap. "Can you sign?"

She nodded and sat up. After signing the clipboard he had handed her, he walked in again with a large basket of all sorts of exotic fruit, surrounded by even more exotic flowers. Her eyes lit up.

"Is that for me?" she asked surprised.

"If you are miss H. J. Granger, then yes!" the youth said.

He placed the basket on a cupboard on the left of her bed. When he had left, she slid off her bed and skipped over to it. There was a small card attatched to the stem of one of the flowers.

'_Get well soon. I miss you. All my love, George.'_ It read.

"George..."

He was really spoiling her. This somewhat overwhelming basket of fruit today and that lovely bouquet the day before... With a big grin she sat down on her bed again, clasping the card to her chest.

'All this for me...' she though happily. 'He must really love me.'

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Fred walked through the door, more anxious than he had ever been. He stared around tentively as if he had never been there before. Slowly he made his way over to the desks at the side of the office doors. Where he had seen Hermione the time before, now sat a girl with dark hair. He coughed and looked around.

"Excuse me..." he said.

The girl looked up. "Yes?"

"I'm...looking for a girl named Tess."

The girl giggled and flicked her hair over her shoulder before turning around. "Tess! There's a redhead here to see you!"

"Is it Ron? I'll just be a sec!" sounded a very hasty voice from the depths of a filecabinet.

Fred grinned. Ron going out with a cute girl like Tess wasn't really what he had expected...or suspected, for that matter. He walked up behind her and said, very softly: "No, not Ronald."

She jumped, nearly hitting her head on an open draw. She turned around, one hand clasped to her chest.

"Don't _ever_ do that again. You scared the living daylight out of me."

He grinned apologetically. "Sorry...I just wanted...Can I...I would like to talk to you. Somewhere private."

She nodded slowly, noticing the pair of eyes that was burning in her back.

"You know this bloke, then?" the black haired girl asked between to chews on her gum.

"Never you mind, Cindy." Tess said impatiently.

She turned back around to face him.

"Come on. We'll grab some coffee in the café."

Fred followed her down the stairs and into the coffeeshop at the entrance of the building. She sat down and watched him carefully as he sat down too.

"How is she?" Tess asked.

"She's fine." Fred muttered.

"But that's not why you're here." Tess stated. "You're Fred, right?"

He nodded. "...Yeah...How did you know? But...now you _do_ know, you must also know why I am here."

"I suppose I do." she said. "Have you told her?"

"Told her what?" he asked alarmed.

"That you love her."

Fred blushed.

"I can't." he said quietly. "She's happy with George. He's romantic and sweet to her...I don't want to make her unhappy."

"The way George does, you mean. I've seen that hag at the office lure him in...I know she's bewitching him with that so called 'charm' of hers. But does Hermione know?"

Fred shook his head. "I haven't told her anything. I don't believe he's done something really wrong...I don't want to believe that. What if I said something and then it turns out I was completly wrong!"

Tess leaned her chin on her hand. "But...what about George? Is he...strong enough? To withstand Vivian, I mean."

"...I don't know."

"You know, I went to visit her the other day...she was in cloud nine because of the little bouquet he had given her...She suddenly started describing his kisses as magical...mindblowing, even. You should tell her it was you before she finds out on her own. If I can figure it out, than she can definitely."

Fred's head snapped up. "You...you _know?_ And you didn't tell her?"

"It's not my place. This is between you, your brother and her. If you don't tell her the truth soon, someone's going to find out in the end and that will do more damage than outing the truth ever could."

"But-"

"You go and tell her it was you who kissed her, you owe her that." Tess said slowly.

"...And what happens after that?"

"That's up to her." Tess said. "Only she can decide what will happen then."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"I'll see you later then?" she asked hopefully.

He nodded. "Of course. I'll come pick you up when you can go home again."

"But that's going to be another couple of days!" she said disappointedly.

"Hermione, you know we're really busy with the shop at the moment. The new products, searching for more employees...Fred's been distand lately as well, so he hasn't been much help to me and Viv."

She raised her eyebrow. "Viv?"

"Vivian, our lawyer."

"Yes, I _know_ who she is." she said agrivated. "But why the nickname! Why do you always insist on calling her by that stupid nickname."

He was a little taken aback by her grumbling tone of voice. "It's just something that grew between us during school. I've gotten used to it and it's a hard habit to break. Nothing else, okay?"

"Does she call you Georgie?" she asked with a hint of a sneer.

George looked at her strangely.

"Are you jealous?" he asked suddenly.

"No I'm not." she answered back fiercely. "It's just...Oh, never mind. You don't understand."

She turned around on her other side and stared at the wall. George, with a confused look on his face, tried to make her turn back by touching her shoulder. She grunted and remained as she was.

"I'll see you later then." George said, feeling hugely mistreated.

"Bye then." she said curtly.

She listened to the sound of his footsteps moving away. She closed her eyes as the door fell shut. Once she was certain she was alone, she turned back and stared at the closed door. She hadn't meant to be this harsh, but she felt so insecure every time Vivian bloody Kramer was mentioned.

It already felt awkward knowing she had been George's old girlfriend...but hearing him talk with so much praise about someone who made her life quite miserable just made her mad.

"He doesn't know it hurts you..." she said out loud, trying to reason with herself. "He doesn't know because you don't really talk to him."

"Talk with who?" said someone, peering through the gao of the door.

Hermione beamed. "Ginny! Come in, come in!"

Ginny slipped through the door and pulled up a chair close to the bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Oh, not that bad. Just a few more days and I can go home. They want to keep me here a bit longer to be on the safeside."

Ginny smiled. "I read in the paper they hade discovered the antidote for this disease. And they said they also know the source and everything. Something about birds..."

Hermione nodded. "That's right. They used the antidote on me right after it was tested. I feel loads better now."

"Good." said Ginny. "And...how's everything else? George..."

Hermione's smile faded slightly.

"To be honest I don't really know...I don't know if you've heard something from Tess or Ron...but my boss is George's ex girlfriend."

Ginny's head snapped up. "What, Vivian? You mean _that_ cow? Oh, I remember her, alright."

Hermione raised her eyebrow. "You know her?"

"Yeah I do. Never realised it's the same Vivian as your boss was, but it does make sense now. Fred told me that George was-"

Suddenly she snapped shut,

"...That George was?" Hermione asked hesitantly.

"He...he seems very keen on him being the one who handles the things that include her, lately...Fred said that he hardly had any attention for the shop itself...I- I didn't want to tell you this, I thought it would make you worry..."

"Oh..."

"He even said something about having very little time to visit you, just now. I met him down the hallway on my way up. Said he was thinking of buying you something to make up for it, for a change...He just couldn't think of anything and flowers or fruit seemed awkward, he said."

"Oh..."

Ginny bit her lip. "Don't worry, okay? Vivian has nothing on you. She's a cow and you are a sweet and caring person."

Hermione looked at the bunch of flowers she had been given a few days before.

"Did...did he say how many times he had visited me?" she asked slowly.

"I- I think so." Ginny said confused. "I yelled at him, calling him all sorts of names when he told me he had only been here once before when you had just been brought here. I was so mad!"

Hermione's face slowly grew into a mystified expression. "Once...you say?"

Ginny nodded.

"Yeah, I was so angry, I cursed him into hell and back, with words, I mean. Even though I was tempted to throw a Bat Bogey Hex his way. He was in the hospital already so it wouldn't have been that bad..." she grinned. "Why, don't you remember him coming by?"

"No, that's not it...I just remember him visiting more often...I guess, I guess that I must have been dreaming."

Ginny shook her head, trying to remember whether she had heard George wrong. Hermione turned her head towards the vase on the bedside table. George had brought them along, hadn't he?

They were real, so the visit had been real too. She hadn't been dreaming, then. But if it couldn't have been George, then it could only have been-

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	20. Truth

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter twenty: Truth**

He kept looking at her hands in her lap. She tried to get him to look at her, but nothing seemed to be able to draw his atttention to her face.

"Come on...you could at least look at me...Why did you come here if you didn't want to speak to me or look at me."

He said nothing and bit his lip, keeping his eyes fixed on her hands.

'Why _am_ I here.' he wondered.

He shouldn't have come after the way he had acted the last time he had visited her. But he couldn't help himself and when he had seen Vivian and his brother in their kitchen, bent over something supposedly for the shop, he had felt there was nothing else for him to do but visit Hermione in George's place.

As long as he acted like George, she would never know. But although he felt sure that that was the only way to solve this problem, the things Tess had said to him seemed to echo through his mind involuntarily. He lifted his head and smiled at her, the way he thought George would.

"Sorry." he said, surprised to heard his own voice sound so awkward. "My mind's just been a little occupied lately, what with everything that's been going on..."

"You mean with your lovely lawyer." she said with a hint of disgust.

"No!" he said hastily. "Vivian's got nothing to do with it. She annoys me actually."

Hermione looked away. She couldn't help but wonder why suddenly he had called that woman by her full name in stead of that nickname George always used for her.

"You haven't been too busy to make time for her. You hardly came to see me." she said testily.

He stood up from his chair and sat down on her bed. "I'm sorry. I know I've only come to see you a few times. And I don't expect flowers or fruit to make up for it. I just want to let you know that I love you. And I'm sorry if you have been feeling neglected."

She smiled uncertainly. She did have a few thoughts that crossed her mind right now, but she couldn't tell whether she was right.

"You were rather harsh to me the last time you came by." Again, her words came out testily.

He lowered his eyes for a moment, only to look back up at her a second later with determination. "I didn't mean to be. Please...will you forget about that? I can't bear the thought of you being cross with me."

She smiled and, after a moment of hesitation, placed her hands in his neck.

"Well...kiss me and I'll think about it." she said with a wink.

He hesitated, but could only comply when he saw the look in her eyes.

'And I'm supposed to be George anyway'. he thought vaguely when he leaned in.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"That will be two Galleons, sir."

He shoved the money across the counter and held out his hand to receive the small plastic bag holding the present he had just bought. He tried not to remember the feeling of a certain set of fingers working his shoulders or that soft whisper in his ear.

He walked out of the small shop and leaned against the wall and shook his head. He knew that he had been placing himself in situations he shouldn't have, but he came out on top in the end every time, knowing when to restrain himself.

Looking at the present in his hand, a feeling of guilt washed over him. He knew he had been spending more time with Viv than with Hermione. He could still hear Ginny scream at him the way she had done the last time had run in to her, because it had only been his second visit to Hermione.

Hermione didn't deserve that. Nor did she deserve him trying to push this cheap necklace from the hospital giftshop on her as a way to make up. She didn't deserve crappy gifts, because he knew there was nothing that could make up for the way he had acted.

He wondered though, why Hemione hadn't complained about him coming by so little. Apart from that grumpy face when he mentioned work with Viv, she never seemed to mind. But that didn't make his lack of attention any better.

He tightened his hands into fists with determination and headed towards the large set of stairs. He would barge into her room and shower her with attention as soon as he would get there. This determination almost made him laugh. He felt strange to realise and register all the thoughts that seemed to be flying around in his head.

He turned left as he had reached the top of the stairs and headed into the corridor ahead. There was a small group of elderly wizards standing around a notice board who looked at his concentrated face with curiosity, but he simply smiled at them and walked on.

Just as he reached the door to Hermione's room, he halted and straightened his jacket and robes, wanting to look as smart as possible. As he bent down to zip up the zipper of his left dragon hide boot, he was surprised to hear the sound of people talking from within the room.

He peeked around the corner, wanting to see who was there before bursting inside to surprise her with his gift in his hand.

"I can't bear the thought of you being cross with me." George heard a male voice say.

"Well... kiss me and I'll think about it." he heard Hermione reply playfully.

Just as George stepped inside, flourishing his gift in the air, he saw how Hermione was in liplock with someone else. With his brother.

He tightened his hands into fists, biting his lip forcefully. No sound came from his throat and without saying another word he turned around and thrust the giftbag onto the floor. The two people on the bed were too engrossed in each other to even notice.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"No, I don't want to hear excuses! I want things getting done around here!"

"Y- yes miss."

She watched as the young boy hastily withdrew from her office and she leaned down on her desk with her hands. She wanted nothing more than to be out of this office and over at her place where she could let her mind wander to more pleasant and appealing thoughts than lawsuits and courtcases.

She was thinking about that with such concentration that she hardly even noticed her walking towards the coatstand, getting her coat and bag. When she found herself staring at her cloaked mirror image in the window, she was momentarily taken aback.

With a self-complatent smile, she suddenly decided she was going to nip out of the office to indulge herself in one of those more appealing thoughts of hers. With the swish of her wand, she found herself in front of a door she recognised rather well.

Pushing it, she found it was open and so she entered, walking straight ahead to head up the set of stairs behind the door in the back. A sound coming from behind her on the landing startled her as the door to George's bedroom opened.

She turned around and didn't notice how her leafy green cloak slipped off her shoulders and to the ground in that movement.

"Viv..." George said surprised.

She looked at him and saw his face was red with anger...or tears, she didn't know which.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Nothin in particular...Just found myself outside your door, thought I'd come in."

She stepped closer and rested her hands on his shoulders, turning her somewhat vacant and complacent look into the more luring look she usually wore. George looked at her, trying to recall what he had seen that afternoon in the hospital.

But the mere thought of seeing Hermione kissing someone else...her kissing _Fred_, made him grind his teeth with a thirst for revenge he couldn't explain with logic. Vivian sensed he was confused and licked her lips temptingly.

Suddenly he rushed forward, pressing his mouth down on hers hard. Vivian immediately clasped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss passionately. Whether it was her walking forward, pushing him in, or him walking backwards, pulling her along, somehow they found themselves stumbling onto the bed as they tripped on the rim of the bed seconds later.

Her hands found their way to the button of his trousers, as an almost vindictive smile crossed her face. She hadn't expected to get to this point at all with him this soon. Not with Goody Granger in the background.

She looked at his face and smirked. By the look in his eyes he was confused. She liked them confused. Slowly she pulled down his zipper and slipped her hand underneath the denim fabric of his jeans.

He opened his eyes in shock for a second, realising this was something he shouldn't do. It wasn't right, it wasn't fair. But that same image of Hermione and Fred made him push logic to the side. He hardly cared about doing the right thing right now.

He kissed her again, almost violently this time, as he tried to dismiss the mental picture he kept seeing from that afternoon. He allowed himself to be absorbed in the moment too much to care. He wrestled Vivian's blouse off and grabbed her firmly, pulling her body close to his. She smiled again and grazed his neck with her teeth.

He moaned softly and grabbed her even tighter as his shirt seemed to vanish into thin air. She pulled at the legs of his jeans and he didn't try to hold her back. Now, only thin layers of fabric remained between them, acting as the last boundary.

She eyed him hungrily and pushed him down onto the bed. He complied willingly and dismissed any feelings of guilt or remorse as her hand slipped under the elastic band of his last item of clothing. He closed his eyes as a soft 'oh' escaped his lips.

She smirked and placed a peck on his lips, on his chest, on his stomach...

With a quick and nimble movement she tugged his last remaining piece of clothing down to place another light peck on the newly revealed skin.

Suddenly he whipped his arms around her, undid her bra and then pushed her down onto the bed instead as he kissed her pationately before slowly starting to grind his hips against hers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

He pulled away slowly. She didn't open her eyes at first, savouring the burning feeling on her lips. He cast his eyes down and waited.

"That...was amazing." she whispered softly.

He didn't know why but she sounded confused and almost surprised. He would have liked to ask her what she was thinking, but he felt it wasn't his place. After all, she was George's girlfriend and he was only pretending to be him, to be George. He was thankful that she still didn't seem to know who he really was.

She reached out and placed her hand to his cheek.

"I didn't really understand at first." she said. "But every kiss I share with you...is mindblowing. You make me feel whole...special...I wanted you to know that before I-"

She was interrupted by a nurse who bustled inside. "Hello dear!"

"Good afternoon, mrs. Medlycott." she said, quickly letting her hand drop into her lap.

"I came to remind you that you're free to go today." the nurse said with a merry smile. "Oh, hello mr. Weasley. Come to pick her up, then?"

He smiled. "Now that she's free to leave, I can hardly think of anything else but taking her home."

Hermione smiled softly but looked away. She wasn't quite sure what was crossing her mind right now, but it all seemed too confusing at the moment.

But before she had the opportunity to say something, her bags had been packed by a quick swish of a wand, she was asked to fill in a form and before she knew it, she was standing outside the hospital doors with her luggage by her feet.

She looked back up to see mrs. Medlycott wave at her from a window on the third floor. She waved back at her and then turned back to her companion.

"...Are you walking me home?" Hermione asked.

He nodded. "If you'd like me to. Why don't we drink a relaxing cup of tea at the shop first. It'll be nice and quiet..."

She stood on her toes and kissed him. When he looked at her, he saw there was a tear glistening in the corner of her eye. He wanted to ask what was wrong, but she cut him off and kissed him again so passionately that it felt like a goodbye.

He wrapped his arms around her, letting himself drown in this feeling he knew would never be his. When she let go, he took her hand and started to walk. She looked at him the entire walk to Diagon Alley. There burned something inside her and she didn't know how to handle it. It made her sad and yet very happy.

"Well...Here we are." he said suddenly and halted.

They had reached the shop sooner than either of them had expected. He reached out for the doorhandle but she stopped him.

"Wait..." she said quietly, taking his hand. "There is something...I need to say."

He looked at her curiously and tried to hold himself the way he thought George would.

"I think...that I'm in love with you..." she said even quieter.

Nervously he started to grin. "Well, that's a silly thing to say."

She shook her head and opened the shop door herself. Trying to keep her voice from breaking, she wiped away a tear.

"I don't think it is...Fred."

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	21. Out of League

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Chapter twenty-one: Out of League**

She whipped the door open and closed it behind her with a bang. She locked it with a vague swish of her wand and ran towards the door in the back so she could escape from Fred's befuddled expression.

'Why did I do that...' she asked herself frantically.

She burried her face in her hands and sank to the floor. George was probably upstairs and she had just confessed to something she wasn't even sure about. She loved George, didn't she? Softly she started to sob. Her head was so full of random thoughts that she couldn't get herself to focus.

Someone knocked on the door she was leaning against and she wiped the tears off her face quickly.

"Hermione..." it sounded tenderly.

She shook her head.

"Hermione, please...let me in."

Why, she didn't know. But she slowly managed to get to her feet and stepped aside. The handle moved down and with a soft click the door opened. Hermione turned away, but a pair of shaking hands turned her back so she had to face him.

"Hermione...you...You can't just say that and then run off...You can't expect me to ignore it."

Her bottom lip started to tremble and she hid her face in his shoulders. He wrapped his arms around her to try and calm her, but it only seemed to make her cry even more. Hoping it would soothe her, he kissed the top of her head. But instead, she suddenly looked at him fiercely, tears burning in her eyes, and she pushed him away.

He was too stunned by all that had happened in the last few seconds to stop Hermione as she ran up the stairs to the appartement.

'I need to see George...' was all she could think.

If she could just see George then she would feel the love she had for him again and that would mean everything turning out the way it ought to. She ran blindly and heard slow footsteps follow her. She prayed that Fred wouldn't come after her. If anything, it could make George suspicious.

The door to his room was open, she saw, so she knew that he was definitely home. Without thinking clearly she barged inside, hoping that her mind would clear in his arms. She was already halfway through the room before any of them, herself included, had noticed.

"Her-Hermione!" George stammered, rolling onto his side and clutching the bedsheets to his chest.

Vivian, normally less keen on covering herself up, was so shocked by the sudden appearance of her employee that she automatically did the same. Hermione froze. She felt as if someone had stupified her; even though she tried, her feet would not move.

No one said anything, all waiting for someone else to break the silence. George tried to look at Hermione's face, but found he could not bear to see this kind of horror on her face. No, it wasn't horror, he realised. Somehow her eyes seemed void of any emotion.

He wanted to say something, but realised his own offence had been far graver than hers and so he closed his mouth again. Vivian sat up and seemed almost amused. She looked from one's face to the other's.

"Well!" she said loudly. "This _is_ awkward."

Suddenly Hermione seemed to regain control of her body and she was finally able to unclench her jaw.

"Honestly, I could expect nothing else from you, judging by your record." she said to Vivian, surprised how vicious and distand her voice sounded.

Vivian's smirk disappeared and made room for a sneer-like grimace that didn't suit her. Hermione's eyes now swerved to George and she found that she didn't know what it was she was feeling. Sadness? The tears building up inside her did seem to suggest it was sadness.

Her heart pounded so loudly and it felt like something had slowly started to nibble on it as she took two steps back. Suddenly she burst out into a waterfall of tears.

"From _her_ I can expect _anything_!" she spat, pointing her finger at him wildly. "But I never thought- From you, I never-"

He got up, still cluthing the sheets, and stepped up to her. Her disgusted look made him angry.

"Oh, like you're such an angel?" he roared at her out of nowhere.

She stopped. How could he possible have heard her talking to Fred when he had been...'busy' here?

"I-" she started confused.

"I _saw_ you, Hermione! You and that backstabbing twin of mine! So don't you dare lay all the blame on me!"

"Wait..." she countered. "You're compairing a kiss to a- to a...to _this_? Do you have a screw loose or something!"

"Don't know about that, but he certainly just got screwed." Vivian remarked dryly.

Hermione's head snapped around.

"If _you_ don't want to get hexed to hell and back again, I strongly suggest you stay out of this." she sneered.

"So what happened, then? I'm waiting for an explanation here!" George demanded. "You thought he was me or something?"

"I don't like that tone of yours, George Weasley!" Hermione yelled. "If anyone should give explanations, it's you! And don't you _ever_ be that sarcastic towards me again! Ever!"

She glared at him and then turned around to leave but he grabbed her shoulders.

"You think you're the only one who has the right to get angry?" he asked roughly.

"...For someone who apparentally doesn't see there's a difference between sex and just a kiss you've got a lot of nerve to talk to me." she hissed. "I don't think I ever want to see you again."

She pulled herself from his grasp and walked towards the door.

"So what now? You're going to Fred for comfort? Going to him for love?"

She looked back over her shoulder for a second and he could see she was on the verge of crying again.

"...If he'll have me..." she whispered softly before she closed the door behind her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Well...Didn't expect her to have that much firepower." Vivian mused as she laid back on the bed comfortably.

George said nothing and hid his face in his hands. He sat down on the side of the bed and looked at the floor helplessly.

"I...shouldn't have done this..." he whispered.

"Don't break your head about it too much." Vivian said dismissively. "She's left you now, right? For your brother...I mean, doesn't that show that she's clearly a-"

"It was just...Oh Merlin, I should never have- Nothing can ever make up for this."

He hung his head, wishing he could take back all the things he had just said to her, that he had never let himself be taken in by someone like the person he was talking to now.

"Not only does it show lack of judgement and character, it also shows that you were, well _we_ were, way out of her league."

"Shut up!" he said fiercely. "Out of her league? You don't know what you're talking about! If anyone's playing out of her own league, it's _you_. Don't you go talking about her not being good enough, _Vivian_. She's better than you in every way you can imagine. She follows her heart and doesn't give it away as hastily as someone like you!"

He had a slight hint of disgust on his face which vanished quickly as he sat down on the edge of the bed again. Her expression had turned venomous.

"You know what?" she started.

But he shook his head and interrupted her. "No, I don't. But I want you to go, get out. Now."

"I'm not-"

"_Now_, Viv. Get out." he said fiercely.

With all the dignity she could muster, she got dressed and moved towards the door. Before she finally disappeared through it, she looked back.

"One thing, though. If she is such a good girl, then why did she leave you for your brother."

She didn't wait for his answer and departed. When the door had fallen shut, George closed his eyes with a painful expression.

"...Because she was out of my league, too."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The corridor was empty and all the doors were closed. The lights in the kitchen were switched off so she assumed no one was there. She walked on slowly and knocked on the door she knew to lead to his bedroom.

"Fred...?" she managed to whisper hoarsley.

There came no reply. She couldn't help asking herself whether he was in there or not, and, if he was, that she couldn't hope for him to listen to her. She knew how cruel she had been to him. First confessing love, then running away and now knocking on his door to beg for pity and comfort.

No wonder he wouldn't open the door, she thought with a stab of pain in her heart. Defeatedly she let her hand fall down by her side. It was no use, she had blown it all by running upstairs to George. Now that she had finally realised who it was she loved, she had ruined every little chance she'd had.

Her already puffy red eyes started to burn once again as she realised what the consequences now had turned out to be. She turned away from the door and slowly made her way down the stairs.

The shop was completely empty too. Not even Verity was there.

'So he really did lock himself in his room.' she thought bitterly.

He really had been ignoring her. She ran out the door and into the street, keeping on walking without thinking about where she was going. She didn't even care where she was going, her mind was even more confused than it had been before and it rendered her unable to think clearly.

The tears she had been fighting back started to flow once more as the thought of Fred not answering his door kept running around in her head over and over again.

She could only blame herself for this, she thought wildly as she tried to see through her tears. She should have realised it was Fred and not George that had been so sweet to her...who she felt affection for. But now it was too late.

When she'd had to make a choice, she had chosen to run upstairs to George. Now there was no turning back and Fred probably hated her.

She bumped into someone's back and muttered a hasty excuse. Wanting to avoid a confrontation, she headed into the nearest shop to disappear.

"Can I help you?" an elderly man asked.

She dried her eyes and took a look around. She recognised these somewhat dusty shelves filled with books very well. After all, she bought all her books here at Flourish and Blotts. She shook her head with a vague smile which looked oddly misplaced on her sad face.

It had been a long time since she had used this shop as her safe haven. But perhaps...just this once...

"No...I think I'll be fine." she whispered as she disappeared in between two rows of shelves, allowing herself to get lost in the only place she could really feel at ease.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


	22. Silly Things

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. This is just a figment of my imagination

**Author's Note:** _Well, guys, here it is. The last chapter of The Better Weasley! This is where it all comes to gether, where it all finds its end. I hope you enjoy this ending and be sure to let me know!_

**Chapter twenty-two: Silly Things**

"Just a second, I'm coming!" said a muffled voice from behind a door.

He could hear some keys jingling and some hushed talking before the door opened. Two curious eyes stared at him. He said nothing because nothing seemed to make sense anymore.

The door opened a little bit more and he could hear a familiar voice ask who it was at the door.

"...Ron?" he asked, completely forgetting why he had come here.

Tess stepped aside to let him in and eyed him with a glance that could be defined as suspicious. Ron nearly rolled off the couch when he saw his older brother standing next to Tess.

"What are you doing here?" both boys asked simultaneously.

Ron grinned. "I, er...Tess is..."

"We're dating, remember?" Tess said. "Or are you George?"

He shook his head. "...No...I'm Fred."

"Thought so."

Ron got to his feet and wanted to escape this growing uncomfortable mood that had settled in with Fred's arrival.

"I'll see you later, then." he said to Tess as he pecked her cheek.

Tess nodded.

"This better not be about Hermione..." Fred could hear him mutter before he left.

Tess sat down with a serious frown.

"This _is_ about her, isn't it." she started slowly.

Fred nodded. It was all he could do.

"Did you tell her how you feel?"

"I-" he started hesitantly. "I don't know...not...not in so many words, but-"

He tried to remember everything that had happened.

_- - - Flash Back - - -_

"Wait...There is something...I need to say."

He looked at her. Her face was so serious...what could it be? Was there something wrong?

'Come on, act like George.' he told himself furiously.

"I think...that I'm in love with you..."

Her voice was so soft that he could barely hear her. He swallowed difficultly. Why did she say that? Why did she say it _like_ that? She thought she was talking to George, didn't she? Perhaps they had been in a fight...or they had just never said those words to each other out loud. Oh Merlin, what should be do?

"Well, that's a silly thing to say." he said with a nervous chuckle, hoping that George had been chivalrous enough to have at least said he loved her once.

But his remark seemed to hurt her. She brushed past him, shaking her head. And that's when she said it: "I don't think it is...Fred."

Before he had registered her words she had slammed the door in his face. He heard her lock it and could see her run away towards the appartement.

"Alohomora!" he said, suddenly finding himself in persuit.

All that he remembered after that was her pulling away from a hug to run upstairs. He had followed her bravely, but at the sound of shouts coming from his brother's bedroom, all hope had fled his mind.

On his way back downstairs, a green cloak that had been thrown aside onto the floor seemed to jump out against the now so vague surroundings. He recognised it vaguely and after that, everything seemd to be a blurr.

_- - - end of flashback - - -_

"And now you're here..." Tess said slowly. "You didn't...even kiss her after she said that to you?"

"There was no time! She was gone..."

"But Fred...She loves you. The least you can do is to go after her to hear her out."

He hung his head. "I did something stupid, didn't I. But when she ran up the stairs...I thought...George-"

"George isn't the one who sat by her bed when she was ill. George was fawning over some ex of his when Hermione was in the hospital. All those romantic gestures came from you, not your brother. And she realised it before you had the courage to tell her. This means she had time to think, Fred." Tess said calmly. "And when Hermione thinks about something, she ends up getting it right. She chose _you,_ Fred."

"But she was crying! I made her cry! How can I go to her if I make her cry!"

Tess shook her head with an understanding smile. "She cried because she is confused. She's with George and finds out it was you she fell in love with...How would something like that make you feel?"

Fred bit his lip. "I think I understand...but she's probably making up with George now. He'll be charming enough. I saw him charm his way up to Vivian too...it's...almost funny."

But Tess didn't laugh. "Vivian...Hey...You- you said something about...a cloak? A green one?"

"Y-yeah...Why?"

"With sparkles?"

Fred raised his eyebrow and thought deeply. "...Yeah, why?"

Tess gasped. "Oh no! And you heard arguing? Fred...Vivian's got a cloak like that. She always shows it off! She must have been up there with George when Hermione came up! You've got to find her, she'll do I-don't-know-what if she finds out!"

Fred jumped to his feet. "But how do I get-"

"Have you forgotten how to apparate? Did love make you forgetfull as well as blind?"

He hugged her hastily and disappeared with a loud crack.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

He saw someone walk away from the shop door when he had regained his balance from the landing. He recognised the green cloak from before. He ran up to her and grabbed her shoulder roughly.

Vivian scowled. "Come to take me back so soon?"

Fred looked at her with disgust.

"You are nothing but a powerhungry nymphomanica, aren't you." he stated disgusted. "I want you to stay away from Hermione _and_ George. They deserve better company than you."

"Oh, _Fred_. I thought you were someone else. Well, I don't think I'll be wanting their company either. So if you'll let me pass..."

She pushed past him roughly.

"Wait! Is she up there?" Fred called after her.

Vivian shook her head. "I don't think she'll ever want to set foot in that building again."

Fred sighed and looked around wildly. Where could Hermione have gone? To her appartement? He had no idea where that was. He felt lost. The only other place he could think of was her office, but he hardly thought she'd go there to overcome her grief. He walked on, seeing how shop owners had slowly started to get their stock back inside as dusk seemed to be settling in. It was getting late.

Suddenly two words seemed to stare at him, screaming their name. The sign he had just passed in the street called him back, pulling his eyes towards it.

_'Flourish & Blotts'_

With a satisfied smile he opened the door. It was dark inside and it took a moment before his eyes had adjusted to it.

"Can I help you, sir?" an elderly man asked.

"Well...er, I'm looking for a girl. With brown hair..." he said, feeling awkward under this man's stare.

"Oh. Her. She'll be somewhere in the back. Last time I checked she was in the history section."

Fred thanked him hastily and brushed past him into the direction he had pointed out. At the end of a long corridor of bookshelves, he could see the light of a candle burning. A long bushy mane of hair shielded him from seeing her face, but there was no doubt about it that it was her.

The words 'Hogwarts: A History' were embossed on the cover of the book she was holding up.

"Did you know that it was Rowena Ravenclaw herself who bewitched the staircases to move?" she said in an awkward voice. "I knew, you see. But I'd forgotten."

He leaned against the bookshelf uncomfortably. "Hermione...I...I know about George and Vivian...I'm...sorry."

She looked up suddenly. He could see she had still been crying. She scrambled up to her feet and threw herself against his chest, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. He closed his arms around her after a moment of hesitation, thinking back to Tess' words.

'_She chose _you_, Fred.'_

"How...did you know it was me?" he asked softly as he allowed his fingers to play with her hair. She tightened the hug as if her life depended on it.

"...I'm not sure...But...I knew...in the end. I'm sorry for everything I did to you, Fred. I never wanted to hurt you! But back at the shop..."

He shook his head and lifted her chin with his hand.

"I don't care." he said softly. "You were just as confused as I was."

"...Aren't you anymore?" she asked almost frightened.

He shook his head again. "When I kissed you, my head spinned and nothing made sense anymore. I didn't care I was supposed to be George, all I wanted was to kiss you again...But you never appeared to know the truth, so I said nothing. But when you kissed me outside the shop today, you _knew_, Hermione. You knew I was me and still you kissed me."

She turned away, not able to look him in the eye.

"You love me...don't you? That's why you kissed me today...Isn't it? You...love me." he said quietly.

Why was she turning away from him? Had Tess been wrong after all? Was Hermione still-

"Everything...it was always you, wasn't it. At the hospital." she said in a whisper. "All the things that made me forgive George...it was all you. I didn't fall in love with _him_ all over again, I fell in love with you, didn't I."

Fred said nothing, his arms limp by his side. He wanted to touch her shoulder but she stepped away as he reached out for her.

"Yes...I knew today and I kissed you because I knew. But then I ran from you. I left you and I hurt you...I-" she wrapped her arms around herself to suppress a shiver. "I understand if you don't want to be with me after that. I'll leave you and George alone and I'll-"

She was roughly interrupted as Fred grabbed her shoulders, turned her back to face him and pressed his lips down on hers. She was too shocked to react. He pulled away with an almost angry expression.

"There! That's what I want, Hermione! You! Didn't you listen to anything I said? I never want you to stop kissing me! I want to be the one to hold you and who you tell your worries to! I don't care about what George might say or anyone else! All I want is for you to say you love me, because I love you so much that it hurts every second I can't be with you!"

Her bottom lip started to tremble and he could see another tear taking shape in the corner of her eye. Suddenly she flung herself forward into his arms again. Her shoulders started to shake violently, but when she looked up he could see she was smiling through her tears this time.

She pulled his head down so she could kiss him over and over again. He happily obliged and once again lost himself in the feeling that soared through his entire body.

"Oi! This is a bookstore, not a brothel!" the old man yelled down the corridor.

Fred wrapped his arm around her shoulders and guided her out into the street. He looked at her as they stood on the pavement. Both of them seemed somewhat lost now they had left that sheltered surroundings of the bookstore. He stepped up closer to her and cupped her face in his hands.

"Hey...It's alright now." he said softly, wiping away her last tear. "Everything is alright now."

She nodded. "I know. It's just...I didn't think you'd want me anymore...That you wouldn't have me...after-"

"Well," he said, smiling happily, "that's a silly thing to say."

And with that same happy smile on his face, he leaned in to kiss her again. Slowly the lights in the bookstore behind them were turned off. He took her hand and looked around. All the shops had closed by now.

Hermione slowly leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Come on..." he said. "Let's go home."

* * *

**The End**

* * *


End file.
